From San Juan, Argentina, at the Estadio Aldo Cantoni, time tested veteran Carlos “Tata” Baldomir (46-12-6, 14KOs) of Santa Fe, Argentina, got back on track after a knockout loss to Saul Alvarez in September, defeating hometown favorite and fellow Argentinean Amilcar Edgardo Funes (22-10, 17KOs) by split decision, boosting “Tata’s” claims that he has a few good scraps left in him.
In the city that is known for wine, the aging 39-year-old Baldomir was looking to prove he’s still ripe and not ready to give in to father time. The durable former welterweight champion came out in the first sequence driving forward while Funes was circling to his left. Baldomir was floating his
jab as he stalked Funes using it as a range finder. The first significant blows were landed by the 28-year-old hometown fighter when Funes caught “Tata” with a double left hook from the body to the head then followed up with a double left hook from the head to the body.
Baldomir was keeping his hands somewhat low around his chest as he continued to concentrate on the jab throwing an overhand right from time to time while Funes was looking to counter with the left hook. Baldomir was hit with a few left hooks in the opening three minutes then got caught with a big right hand on the chin in the closing seconds of the round.
The early stages of the contest were held in the center of the ring as they studied and measured one another. Funes was throwing a healthy dose of left hooks with a few right hands while Carlos stayed true to the jab and released a straight right or left hook periodically. In the first few frames, Baldomir was busier but his strikes caught a lot of leather as Funes connected with cleaner more effective punches in what was a good start for Amilcar.
As the fight went on, “Tata” began shooting his jab with force and it became more effective. At the conclusion of the second round, Funes blasted Carlos right on the button with an over hand right as “Tata” made overtures that it was nothing. Funes failed to follow up on his work as he allowed Baldomir to push him against the ropes unleashing a few right hand uppercuts that were unable to find their target. Once again in the final seconds of the round, Baldomir got caught with a big right hand and this time he countered with a left hook to the side of Funes’ jaw after the bell rang.
The scrap was competitive and displayed good back and forth boxing as the fight aficionados in the fertile valley of San Juan, Argentina, were being treated to an entertaining battle. Baldomir was using no head movement rewarding Funes with an easy target to drill with his left hook. The rounds were close but it seemed as though Funes was winning the episodes with crisp punches. However, Baldomir earned the 28-year-olds respect when he landed a big right hand to the mouth of Funes in the third stanza.
Baldomir was scoring when the fighting was in the center of the ring but when he allowed himself to be pushed against the ropes, Funes got his scoring done with left hooks and straight rights. Carlos picked up the pace in the mid rounds changing the tide in his favor and he began finding the target with his own left hooks which he also started throwing to the body more often. Carlos’ best punch throughout the night was his jab as he continuously used it to set up everything else like three huge left hooks to end the fourth round that had “Tata” pounding on his chest while Funes walked back to his corner with blood streaming down his left eye.
Midway through the brawl, Funes started throwing a stiff jab that was effective and the fight was close as the combatants kept changing offensive hats. Funes, who kept switching to an unorthodox stance with little success, continued landing the cleaner blows while Baldomir connected at a higher rate and scored time and time again with his superior jab. Baldomir hit Funes again with a right cross on the button after the bell to conclude the seventh round and started using cagey veteran tactics in the later rounds like putting his head in his opponents chest and using his shoulders to lean and push Funes around. It began to pay dividends late as it seemed Baldomir was about to take over the fight as he dominated the eighth and most of the ninth with good combination’s to the head and body, even slipping and weaving his foe’s combination’s like he was years younger.
Funes would not concede though and came back in the final moments of the ninth round landing three resounding overhand rights to Baldomir’s head which caused “Tata” to lay out his arms and open his mouth in a bad attempt to fake as if he was hurt. Going into the tenth and final round, Funes had to win it if he had any hopes of winning the fight.
Funes came out aggressive in the tenth throwing power punches and the fighters had good exchanges that Funes was getting the better of. Funes took the final round but when it was all said and done, it wasn’t enough as old man Baldomir tapped into the fountain of youth once more winning a split decision with scores of 99-93 and 98-97 for Baldomir and 98-96 for Funes.
For Funes, that is two losses in a row as he was coming off a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Michel Rosales.
Carlos Baldomir bounces back from a knockout loss and said he would like to fight three or four more times.