Before Marcos Maidana made history for Argentine boxing with two high-profile fights against Floyd Mayweather in 2014—bouts that gave him unprecedented international recognition and a fortune that ultimately led to his exit from the sport—another Argentine world champion had already defended his title against Money in the welterweight division.
Carlos Baldomir, a native of Santa Fe, became the WBC welterweight champion with a stunning upset victory over Zab Judah at the iconic Madison Square Garden on January 7, 2006. In his first title defense, he proved to the United States—where boxing is a near-religious matter—that he was the real deal by stopping Arturo Gatti via ninth-round technical knockout that July at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Perhaps El Tata, as he was nicknamed, rushed into taking another fight that same year. But the allure of payday sums he had never even dreamed of in his previous 12 years as a pro, coupled with the self-belief he carried at the time, led him to accept a second title defense in November—against Mayweather, who already held a perfect 36-0 record.
The night Mayweather took his title
Baldomir put his WBC welterweight belt on the line at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and earned $1.5 million just for stepping into the ring. He tried to overwhelm Money in the opening rounds, attempting to show who the champion was by landing some powerful shots. But little by little, the American took control, using his trademark slick defense to frustrate and create openings to counter.
(R) Carlos Baldomir (R) of Argentina connects to the shoulder of Floyd Mayweather during their WBC Welterweight Championship fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center November 4, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
By the sixth round, the Argentine fighter was bleeding heavily, and Mayweather’s dominance only increased. He cruised to a one-sided unanimous decision with scores of 120–108, 120–108, and 118–110, stripping Baldomir of his world champion status.
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That defeat marked the beginning of the end. In his next fight, Baldomir attempted to move up in weight to claim the vacant WBC super welterweight title, but he lost a unanimous decision to Vernon Forrest in July 2007.
Brutally knocked out by Canelo Alvarez
After two lower-profile fights abroad—a split decision win over Luciano Perez at Morongo Casino in Cabazon and a split decision loss to Jackson Osei Bonsu in Belgium—Baldomir returned to Argentina after seven years, seeking to reignite his career.
He managed to do so temporarily, scoring a fourth-round TKO against Jairo Jesus Siris, which earned him a spot at a prestigious venue: the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where he faced an undefeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who was 34–0 at the time.
Saul Alvarez of Mexico hits Carlos Baldomir of Argentina in the WBC Super Welterweight Silver Title fight at Staples Center on September 18, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
It wasn’t a 12-round title fight, as the belt at stake—labeled “Silver” by the WBC—did not carry the status of a full world championship. Yet even that secondary title eluded Tata, who was brutally knocked out by Canelo in the final second of the sixth round.
A heinous crime and an 18-year sentence
Two years after retiring—following a loss in Mexico to Andrey Meryasev in April 2014—Carlos Baldomir was arrested in Junín after his own daughter filed a sexual abuse complaint in Santa Fe. By then, the former world champion had already lost most of the fortune he had earned in boxing through gambling, as he later admitted.
After three years of detention at Las Flores prison, Baldomir was found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing his daughter when she was a minor and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, which he is currently serving.
Mistakenly declared dead during a Riot
In March 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, several reports mistakenly claimed that Carlos Baldomir had died during a riot at Las Flores prison. The unrest began as a protest demanding better hygiene conditions and even early releases to prevent the spread of the virus, which had no approved vaccine at the time and was causing a growing number of deaths nationwide.
However, the protest escalated into violence, especially in Pavilion 3, which housed inmates convicted of sexual crimes—Baldomir among them. Several prisoners in that section were killed, some burned, others stabbed.
The false report of Baldomir’s death originated from confusion over his physical resemblance to one of the actual victims. In reality, the former boxer had narrowly escaped the carnage and remains incarcerated at Las Flores, with seven years left on his sentence.
