Rene Palacios was unranked and untested at featherweight when he challenged Sulaiman Segawa on January 30.
That didn’t matter. While Segawa was rated fourth by the WBC at 126lbs, had given Bruce Carrington a tough test and was far better than his 18-5-1 record would otherwise suggest, Palacios rose to the occasion and proved supreme.
Palacios often fought on the inside, but he wasn’t there solely to slug it out. He opted at times to box in a way that somewhat emulated his favorite fighter, Vasiliy Lomachenko, en route to a split decision win by scores of 99-91 and 97-93, while one judge had it 96-94 for Segawa.
“I was very impressed,” said Robert Diaz, Palacios’ adviser and formerly the longtime matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions, in an interview with BoxingScene.
Diaz thought the scorecards were off. Not only did he believe Palacios should have gotten the unanimous nod, but he thought the 99-91 tally for his own fighter was too wide. The victory brought Palacios, a 24-year-old from Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, to 19-0-1 (10 KOs).
“One thing I saw with Rene prior to the fight was his confidence,” Diaz said. “A lot of times in the past, from my experience, is when a fighter has confidence in himself, it gives me the confidence. And it goes back to the day when [Marco Antonio] Barrera was going to fight [Prince Naseem] Hamed. And he told me, ‘This is the fight that’s going to catapult me into stardom.’”
Diaz recalled a message he received from Palacios last September after Segawa stopped Bryan Acosta. That was a big win for Segawa, bouncing back from the disappointing and debated loss to Carrington by taking out a fighter whose only other defeat had come via decision against Ramon Cardenas.
“Get us Segawa,” the message said. Diaz and Palacios soon spoke on the phone.
“There’s no need to jump to it right now. We have time,” Diaz advised Palacios.
Palacios still wanted Segawa. He got what he wanted – and showed both confidence and comfort despite the big step up, standing in the line of fire against Segawa.
“I asked [Palacios] after the fight, what made him stay inside all night? And he said the reach that Segawa had, he felt that if he fought at half-distance or a little bit on the outside, it would give Segawa an advantage,” Diaz said. “So I think it was Segawa’s mistake of trying to fight inside with Rene that cost him a lot of the fight. But if [Segawa] would have placed a little bit of distance, maybe used his jab, it would have favored him more. But Rene that night just was on. His speed. Being smart, too, There were rounds that were pretty close and it was like, ‘Come on, let your hands go.’ And he would throw a flurry of punches.”
If there was a perception before that Palacios had an inflated record, Diaz says that is no longer the case.
“I think he showed the world that he’s for real,” Diaz said. “And my job now is to guide him into an opportunity to fight for a world title because he’s worked hard, he sacrificed. And now at this point, beating a guy as experienced as Segawa, as high-ranked as Segawa.”
Following the loss, Segawa is no longer ranked in the top 15 at featherweight in the WBC’s latest monthly ratings update, which was released on February 3. But while Palacios defeated a man who had been ranked fourth, he didn’t enter the top 15, either. The WBC instead has him at No. 20, with Segawa just behind Palacios at No. 21.
“I saw the rankings, and I respect the organizations and their decisions, but I think it’s a little bit off,” Diaz said. “I think he does deserve a top-10 rating because of who he beat.”
The plan is to keep Palacios active – he’s signed with ProBox TV but can appear on other promoters’ shows if bigger opportunities arise – and to move higher up in the rankings, building a case for a title shot. That will also get Palacios more of the experience he needs.
“All fighters are always growing and learning. He’s still very young and has the experience from the amateurs. I think we saw that, because even though it was a jump, a very big leap in opposition with Segawa, he passed the test,” Diaz said. “So now it’s more of getting comfortable fighting in the US. This was only his second time in the US. So I’d like to see a couple of fights where now people know him, support him, getting the fans behind him, seeing a couple of different styles.
“Segawa fought a fight where he didn’t back down. I'd like to see [Palacios] fight maybe somebody that moves a little bit more and boxes more to give him that little bit of difference so that when we do fight for the title, it’s not just going in there to fight for it, but going in there to win it.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
