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Carlos Baldomir
Born	Carlos Manuel Baldomir (1971-04-30) April 30, 1971 (age 53) Santa Fe, Argentina
Nationality	Argentine
Other names	Tata
Statistics
Weight(s)	Welterweight
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	61
Wins	44
Wins by KO	13
Losses	11
Draws	6
No contests	0

Carlos Manuel Baldomir (born April 30 1971 in Santa Fe) is an Argentine boxer and former WBC/Ring Magazine world welterweight champion.

Boxing Style

Carlos Baldomir isn't known as a power puncher, but has what many boxing analysts call "heavy hands". This usually means he will try to impose his will on his opponents with a consistent, aggressive attack. Baldomir is also said to have one of the toughest chins in the sport. However, common criticisms of Baldomir are his slowness, his slow, plodding advance, and a lack of agile lateral movement. Opponents with speed can often create problems for him if he is unable to fight his style of fight.

Career

Upsetting Zab Judah

Baldomir defeated Welterweight champion Zab Judah on January 7 2006 in a mandatory challenge for Judah's title. The fight took place in Madison Square Garden, and with his pressure style and hard right hands Baldomir won a unanimous decision (115-113, 114-113 and 115-112). Baldomir was crowned World Champion, after 6 months of preparations in Los Angeles with Amílcar Brusa. After the fight, he said "This is a tribute to Monzón" who had died eleven years earlier on January 8th.

Baldomir failed to pay sanctioning fees imposed by the WBA and IBF, when he beat Zab Judah for the WBC world title, so, nominally at least, Judah remained the IBF title holder, while the WBA championship reverted to another boxer, Luis Collazo. (The HBO broadcast mentioned that Baldomir chose not to pay the sanctioning fees for the other organizations, out of loyalty to the WBC, which gave him the opportunity to fight for a world title by naming him the mandatory challenger to Judah.) Despite this separation of the three title belts, Baldomir was universally regarded as the true Welterweight champion since he defeated Judah, the recognized champion.

Gatti vs. Baldomir

On July 22, 2006 Baldomir successfully defended his WBC Welterweight Championship by defeating fan favorite Arturo Gatti by TKO in the 9th round by overpowering the faster, but naturally smaller Gatti. Baldomir also captured the lightly regarded IBA Welterweight Championship in the process. This fight helped convince some skeptics that Baldomir's win over Judah was no fluke. Baldomir then expressed a desire to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. to continue his unlikely rise in the welterweight division.

Baldomir vs. Mayweather

Baldomir would eventually get his chance against the pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr., on November 4, 2006 in Las Vegas for the WBC and Ring Welterweight titles. Said Baldomir of this challenge: "Mayweather is very good, but I can beat him. I'm going right at him. I'm going to keep attacking and not give him a chance to breathe or move. Mayweather has never fought anyone like me before."

Baldomir would ultimately lose both titles by unanimous decision. Ringside punch statistics showed Mayweather landing 199 of 458 punches, while Baldomir landed just 79 of 670. Baldomir was paid $1.6 million, which was a career high in earnings.

During the fight, Baldomir chased Mayweather sluggishly, unable to land any meaningful shots but trying to remain the busier fighter, while Mayweather picked away with sharp jabs and hooks, even managing to cut Baldomir over his left eye in the first round. This pattern continued throughout the fight, thanks in no small part to Baldomir's weighing in at 162 pounds compared to Floyd at 149 lbs. Leading some to believe that Baldomir's sole intention was to knock Mayweather out. The defensive-minded Mayweather, however, apparently not looking to knock out or even exchange blows with his opponent, put on what many witnesses called a "boxing clinic" to take Baldomir's WBC and Ring welterweight titles in a lopsided 12-round decision. Two judges had Mayweather winning all 12 rounds, with the other giving all but two rounds to Mayweather.

Baldomir vs. Forrest

Baldomir was challenged to fight by former champion, Shane Mosley, but HBO would not air the fight, so the concept was thrown aside. On July 28th, on HBO's Boxing after Dark, he fought Vernon Forrest for the WBC Light Middleweight championship, losing a lopsided, yet very exciting and competitive decision. In the post fight interview with Larry Merchant, he indicated that he would likely retire from boxing.

Comeback

On Friday, 23rd of November, Baldomir fought against rugged journeyman Luciano Perez at the Morongo Resort and Casino in Cabazon, California. Perez came on strong and rocked the former champion early, but Baldomir stayed calm, and began to re-establish himself in the fight, dominating the second half of the ten round bout.

Facts

• In his two 2006 fights, Baldomir has beaten two former or current world champions on what has essentially been the opposing fighters "home ring" (Brooklyn-native Judah at Madison Square Garden and long-time Jersey resident Gatti at Boardwalk Hall).

• Yoel Judah accidentally called the fighter "Carlos Baldozar" during a post-fight interview after he upset Judah. On many boxing message boards on the internet, he is now jokingly referred to as "Baldozar" due to Judah's bad mispronunciation.

See also

• List of male boxers
• List of WBC world champions
• List of current world boxing champions

External links

• Carlos Baldomir Fight-by-Fight Career Record
• Boxing record for Carlos Baldomir from BoxRec (registration required)
• Biography
• Boxrec Boxing Encyclopedia

• 1971 births
• Living people
• People from Santa Fe, Argentina
• Argentine boxers
• Welterweights
• World boxing champions