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	Vol.7, No 55, December 6, 1999
	Boxer enshrined in hall By Eric Boyum Daily Forty-Niner How does one become a world champion while being a college student at a university with no boxing squad? For Carlos Palomino, it was pure survival.   49er ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME The former WBC Welterweight Champion of the World was enrolled at Long Beach State during his reign from 1976-79 and was recently inducted into the 49er Athletic Hall of Fame under a special category designation. However, Palomino actually officially started his boxing career when he was 21 years old after being drafted into the U.S. Army. But his fighting skills were learned as a youth on the streets of "Little Mexico" in Santa Ana. "I basically had to fight my way to school and back every day," Palomino said. "When I started boxing it kind of came easy to me because of my experience." After serving for two years in the Army, Palomino began fighting professionally. He won his world championship in the 141-147 pound weight division in 1976 when he traveled to London as a 10-1 underdog challenger to then-champion John Stracey. Palomino knocked him out in the 11th round and went on to defend the title successfully seven times during a three-year span. "I boxed two years in the Army and got out at the age of 23," Palomino said. "Once I got out I went to school on my G.I. Bill." This is when he returned to LBSU as just another student in the growing student body on campus. "The student body then was really into the football team, the basketball team and baseball," Palomino said. "Some of the Latin students knew who I was, but I don''t think most of the students knew who I was." In an era of great middleweights during the 1970s and 1980s such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns, Palomino never received the same recognition or big-money paydays that other champions did. But his record of 31-3-3 along with 19 career knockouts speaks for itself. "I'm kind of glad for some of the young fighters that are coming up today like Oscar De La Hoya who are making the kind of money they are making," Palomino said. In fact, De La Hoya held the same championship belt that Palomino did before relinquishing it to Felix Trinidad this past September. Although the Trinidad loss was De La Hoya''s first loss as a professional, Palomino said he believes De La Hoya should have three losses in his career. "I''ve done some boxing commentary for HBO and Showtime," Palomino said. "The top three welterweights that he has fought, I thought he lost to: Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey and then Felix Trinidad." "The last one he could have won against Trinidad," Palomino said. "The first six rounds I thought he was brilliant and then after that he just started running. At the end I thought it was just kind of pathetic." The fighting style of Palomino (the slugger) against De La Hoya (the boxer) would have provided a great match-up. However, Palomino said De La Hoya wouldn't stand a chance against him if they would have meet during each of their primes due to their differences in style. "He couldn't go 10 rounds with me," Palomino said. "He wouldn't have been able to stand the pressure. He wouldn't have been able to run against me ... he would have gotten cornered." Eric Boyum is the sports editor of the Daily Forty-Niner.		CSU, governor try to prevent fee hike   Teen HIV highest in L.B.   Professor runs for House seat   CSULB worker's pretrial date set   Maxson pitches campus book club   Greeks collect old clothing for Salvation Army drive Friendly passing grades   Protests are good, riots bad   Zappers help protect citizens Dr. Dre returns with enjoyable release   Veteran rappers produce different results Boxer enshrined in hall   Club Soccer team finishes season fifth in nation Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.