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Vince Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything, its the only thing”. For most of the mainstream sports media, that couldn’t be more true. Countless hours on sports talk radio are spent deriding NBA players like Charles Barkley and NFL players like Dan Marino for never winning a championship. Simply stated, no one remembers the runner up and the mainstream sports media helps reinforce this ‘frontrunner’ mentality.

The mainstream sports media also likes to depict boxing as a repository of sleaze, but the reality is that more so than other sports ‘the sweet science’ cares about ‘how the game is played’. Boxing pundits place great emphasis on the competitive quality of a fight–great fights like the Morales-Barrera trilogy, Hagler-Hearns or Hagler-Leonard are considered such for the heart and resolve shown by the fighters, not because of who won. The 2004 fight between current ‘pound for pound’ king Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez is a perfect example–despite breathtaking action from start to finish the fight was ultimately ruled a draw.

At a certain point in a fighters’ career, they can even be criticized for having an undefeated record. While exceptions are made for the best of the best–Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Rocky Marciano come to mind–having a ‘zero’ in the loss column often reflects poorly on a fighter’s willingness to fight high level competition. Even for the best fighters, an undefeated record alone does little to guarantee a place in boxing history. Certainly, that is of much less significance that the manner in which these victories were earned.

The true greats distinguish themselves both by how they ‘play the game’ as well as their championship accomplishments. Few fit that description more aptly than Mexican welterweight great Carlos Palomino. The native of Sonora, Mexico rose to prominence by holding the welterweight title during the late 1970′s. During this time, he set a laudable example by becoming the first reigning world champion boxer to earn his college degree.

Palomino came to the US as a child and began to train as a fighter during his teenage years. After a stint in the Army (where he earned the All Army Welterweight Championship) and a National AAU title he turned pro in 1972. Four years later, he become welterweight champion of the world by knocking out John Stracey in London, England. Palomino would defend his belt seven times over the next two years before losing it to another great, Wilfred Benetiz, via split decision. He retired from the ring shortly thereafter.

Palomino turned his attention to acting following his boxing career, and has worked steadily in a variety of roles both in movies (mostly forgettable action films) and television (shows like Taxi, Star Trek Voyager, Highway to Heaven and Hill Street Blues). He appeared in some of the early Miller Light tastes great/less filling TV commercials. Hes also done some live theatre work, in addition to generating publicity for a number of charities.

In the ring, Palomino wasn’t the typical Mexican fighter stereotype. He was an intelligent, very tactically sound fighter with underrated power and a lethal left hook. More typically, however, he was a fighter who’d break his opponent down slowly with a punishing body attack. Despite not being a typical straight ahead power puncher like so many of his countrymen, he’s no doubt among the greatest Mexican boxers in history.

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