As young fighters trying to make their way in a brutal, demanding discipline, Carlos Palomino and Armando Muniz often were given the same advice:

If you're serious about boxing, forget about college. And if you're serious about college, forget about boxing.

Neither paid it any mind.

"It was a dream of mine as a kid to be a boxer," Muniz says, "but I also knew that I was going to go to school."

Palomino stayed in school, he says, "because I figured that even if I got lucky and won a world title, athletic careers are pretty short and I'd still have a whole life ahead of me."

So, even while they continued trading punches, the Southern California-bred fighters never stopped hitting the books.

And when they twice met for the World Boxing Council welterweight championship in the 1970s, they made history: never before had college graduates fought for a world title.

Nor have they since, boxing historians believe.

Link (http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe16-2009feb16,0,7887096.column)

Here is a pretty cool little article on Carlos Palomino and Armando Muniz...

Link (http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe16-2009feb16,0,7887096.column)

Here is a pretty cool little article on Carlos Palomino and Armando Muniz...

Good stuff. Both of those guys were a real credit to boxing. Amazing fighters and lovely guys.

Bonecrusher Smith also had a college degree when he won the heavyweight title. I imagine he was the only heavyweight champ with a degree prior to the Klitschkos.