by James Slater – As some fight fans may have already read, former world welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir’s promoters Sycuan have today made it clear, via press release, that the tough fighter from Argentina is far from retired and wants a fight with Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and/or Miguel Cotto..
Known for his durability and fighting heart, the man known as “Tata” made a huge name for himself in 2006 by beating Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti and losing a decision to pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather. Since then the 37-year-old has lost to Vernon Forrest up at light-middleweight and has also won a run-of-the-mill points decision over Luciano Perez. This last fight took place in November of 2007, and now Baldomir is saying he wasn’t focused last year and that with new trainer Abel Sanchez he can become world champion again.
And while the odds of Baldomir climbing to the very top once again seem long indeed, wouldn’t “Tata” make a great, almost perfect comeback foe for Miguel Cotto? With his hard head, determination and experience, Baldomir would give Cotto a real test, without presenting too much of a threat in terms of punching power. Cotto needs to come back after the loss to Antonio Margarito, and a meaningless win over a soft opponent would not do him any good at all. Enter Baldomir, a fighter who is nothing if not soft.
I don’t really see Baldomir having much luck in landing a fight with either of the other two fighters he has set his sites on – in Margarito and Clottey (who Baldomir holds a 1999 win over). But a come-backing Cotto, in need of a worthy foe to return against, just might give Baldomir’s people a call. Almost guaranteed a distance fight (Baldomir has only been stopped once in over 60 fights, this occurring way back in 1994), Cotto would be made to work reasonably hard to get what he would hope to be a confidence booster.
Baldomir, an honest-to-goodness, blue collar fighter, will very possibly get himself another big bout before he’s through. He’ll inevitably fall short of becoming a world champion again (or you would think, anyway!), but the man with the 44-11-6(13) record does deserve one final payday before he retires back to Santa Fe, Argentina for good.
I think his best bet for one last high profile, high paying fight is one with a returning Miguel Cotto. It’s a fight that makes sense, especially for the humbled warrior from Puerto Rico.