By Dr. Peter Edwards
The recent string of victories by WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir has catapulted the Argentine fighter to elite status among the welterweights.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is the current number one contender to the crown of Baldomir, and Mayweather has an open slot for his scheduled November 4 pay-per-view.
There are some in the media that give Baldomir a chance, a shot, even a good shot, of giving Mayweather trouble and even pulling off an upset.
Don't get me wrong, Mayweather received plenty of accolades for beating Arturo Gatti and Zab Judah, and I'm not here to say Carlos Baldomir should not get any respect for the same wins, but I will say that Baldomir's wins should not unrealistic scenarios of an upset.
In my opinion, Baldomir pulling off an upset over Mayweather would rank in the same category as Buster Douglas pulling off the upset over Mike Tyson in 1990.
Let's take a deep look into the recent wins of Baldomir and match them with the same wins of Mayweather.
Baldomir scored a unanimous decision win over Judah in January to win his welterweight title. Judah, brought his B-game to the fight and he may have even brought his C-game. It's not Baldomir's fault that Judah did not properly train for the fight, but the facts are what they are.
Judah barely trained for the fight and came to the ring with the mindset of stopping Baldomir within the first five rounds. The fight plan of Judah was crystal clear from the start.
During the pre-fight press conferences and interviews, all Zab and his father/trainer Yoel Judah spoke about was stopping Baldomir and how it would be a miracle if the fight went beyond the halfway point. The wrong kind of strategy when fighting a guy who is riding an 8-year win streak and had not been stopped since 1994. If there were two things people knew about Baldomir, it was his abundance of physical strength and possessing a sturdy chin.
He thought it would be so easy that he took the fight as a joke, he didn’t properly train and to make matters worse, his mind was more set on fighting Floyd Mayweather in April than it was on defending his title against Baldomir. He spoke more about Mayweather during the pre-fight hype that some spectators may have gotten confused over who Judah was actually fighting.
During the fight, when Judah actually boxed and put his punches together he totally neutralized Baldomir. The problem for Judah is after a couple of rounds, he became tired from a lack of conditioning and started to do more running than fighting. Once Judah saw that his best punches could not stop Baldomir, he was not prepared for a plan B. After Baldomir had Judah in serious trouble during the late rounds, many in the building knew an upset was going to happen.
Last Saturday, Baldomir went up against a past his prime Arturo Gatti, and dominated him with brute strength. The fight was easy if Baldomir was able to take Gatti’s punches and once Baldomir saw that he was able to take the punches, he walked Gatti down until he stopped him in the ninth round.
The difference between Mayweather’s wins when comparing them to the wins of Baldomir is that Mayweather dominated Gatti in a fashion never before seen in Gatti’s long career and convincingly beat Judah, who was more motivated for Mayweather than any previous opponent in his entire career.
Gatti was unable to land a single shot against Mayweather, but hit Baldomir often. Gatti never targeted the body of Baldomir and was looking for the knockout in every round. Once Gatti had Baldomir figured out, it was too late as nothing was left in the tank and his body was already busted up. Some could say that Baldomir left himself open because he did not fear what was coming back in return, but he fights the same exact way in every outing. Baldomir is the type of fighter who will take a few punches to land a few. He took all that Gatti and Judah could send his way and didn’t even blink.
Against Judah, Mayweather had a shaky start, but after four rounds he figured Judah out and began breaking him down punishment with accurate punches to the head and body. He probably would have stopped Judah if not for the low blow and riot that took place afterwards, but his performance was still impressive.
The key in Mayweather beating Baldomir is similar to the same way that Roy Jones Jr. beat John Ruiz. All it takes is speed, accuracy, defense and boxing skill, and Mayweather may be the current sport leader in all three categories. Baldomir may be strong and he may have a good chin, but he is very slow with his punches and his feet are not quick either.
Mayweather is by far the best fighter Baldomir would ever face, and Baldomir is not the best fighter Mayweather would ever face. For Baldomir to even stand a chance of winning he would have to fight Mayweather at close range, and if Mayweather was able to handle the likes of Jose Luis Castillo at close range, he can handle Baldomir at close range. Castillo is arguably the best fighter in the business when it comes to infighting. Mayweather had trouble in their first meeting, but easily handled the pressuring style of Castillo in the rematch.
If you want to see how a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Carlos Baldomir would play out, watch Mayweather’s second fight with Jose Luis Castillo. The only difference is that Mayweather will beat Baldomir in easier fashion.