Carlos Palomino Facing Long Odds in Comeback

When Carlos Palomino wandered into the gym 2 1/2 years ago, he wasn’t even thinking about resuming a boxing career that ended with retirement in 1979. He was mourning his father’s death and wanted to get away and see some old friends.

Now, at 48, the former welterweight champion is once again serious about boxing and believes he can compete with the top fighters.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Palomino, a hall of famer who became a household face in beer commercials. “It’s not life and death for me. And I’m not doing this to pay the rent.”

Palomino said he returned to the ring because he enjoys it, but yes, he’d love a big payday, something he never really got at the height of his career in the late ‘70s.

Don’t be deceived: This is not a comeback by an out-of-shape fighter who blocks out the sun with flab and is using his reputation for some easy money.

Palomino weighs 147 1/2 pounds, a half-pound more than when he retired from boxing on his 30th birthday with a 29-3-3 record and 15 knockouts.

Whether he can cut it in the ring with faster fighters 20 or more years younger is another matter. Palomino believes he can.

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Eleven months ago, he stopped Ismael Diaz in the eighth round in his first fight since 1979. He continued his comeback with three more knockouts--one in the first round over former two-time junior world welterweight champion Rene Arredondo in a nationally televised bout.

Now, Palomino is hoping for a title fight. He’d also love to meet the best of the best--Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya, 24, was barely out of diapers when Palomino won the WBC welterweight championship in 1976. He held it until losing to Wilfredo Benitez three years later.

A college graduate with a degree in recreation and administration, Palomino quit while still physically and mentally intact and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

In the early ‘80s, Palomino became well known by appearing in Miller Lite TV commercials. He has done quite a bit of acting since then, and is filming a movie starring Matthew Modine, John Hurt and David Keith.

And he has resumed his boxing career.

“I felt so comfortable being in the ring,” he said of his early visits to the gym. “I feel comfortable now. I just feel my dad in there. He spent a lot of time with me in the gym when I was champion of the world. There was no doubt in his mind I was going to be champion. He made me believe it, he made me live it, and I did.”

Palomino would love to earn enough money to take care of his very large family.

“I come from a family of 11 brothers and sisters,” he said. “I’d like to bring home a huge payday. I didn’t make a million dollars my whole career.”

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Palomino sparred with Hector Camacho when he returned to the gym in July 1995--shortly after Camacho beat Roberto Duran, and before Camacho fought Sugar Ray Leonard and beat him.

“The story I hear, he was putting it to Camacho,” said Carlos Arias, boxing writer for the Orange County Register. “The guys in the gym told me he was getting the best of him.”

The seeds were planted for a comeback, and now, Palomino says he’d love to fight Camacho for real and then De La Hoya.

“I want to win a world title first, the WBO welterweight title,” Palomino said. “Then, I believe it can happen. I’m a very young 48 and I believe I have what it takes.”

Bruce Trampler, a matchmaker for Top Rank Inc., which promotes De La Hoya’s fights, said a De La Hoya-Palomino fight is very unlikely.

“With all respect to Carlos, in his prime, he and Oscar would have been a mega-million-dollar fight and Carlos could have been paid what he and his reputation were worth at the time,” he said.

Trampler said if Palomino were able to mount a campaign similar to George Foreman’s “and gain credibility and regain respect in the sports world and be considered a legitimate challenger for Oscar’s title, anything is possible.”

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ESPN boxing commentator Al Bernstein, who covered the Palomino-Arredondo bout, said Palomino would have almost no chance against today’s best welterweights.

“It is incomprehensible him beating an Ike Quartey, a Pernell Whitaker, a De La Hoya, a Felix Trinidad, people of that ilk,” he said.

Palomino understands those reactions but believes he can succeed.

“The thing that goes with age is speed,” he said. “I think I can punch as hard as ever. The next step is to try and get the NABO title. That gets me ranked worldwide in the WBO. Then, hopefully, I would get an opportunity to fight for that title in 1998.”