I think Palomino was more skilled. But at 154 I'd take Vargas via competitive UD. His strength would be key here. And I don't think Palomino can hurt him seriously enough to put him down and out. Would be a war.
No the Hell he wasn't! You really are ridiculous with the 24-7 weigh-in thing. Vargas would be too small to be a middleweight in ANY era. He was about as natural a junior middle as you can be. He was too big for 147, but too small for 160. Ideal junior middle. Guys like Lamotta and Tiger would have thrown Vargas around the ring like a rag doll. He was no middleweight. Vargas had NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER making 154, until he started having back problems. He was a junior middleweight through-and-through.
What you fail to note about 24-hr weigh-in that - just because a guy comes into the ring at a certain weight, doesn't mean its the weight his frame is meant for. Canelo comes in weighing 170 - light heavweight. Does that mean in the old days he has the frame to be a light heavy? No! He's a short, stocky middle/junior middle. It only really applies to guys who are KILLING themselves to make weight. Vargas in his PRIME (pre-back problems) was making 154 easily. With a same-day weigh-in, he coulda still made 154 had the weigh-in taken place hours later.
Vargas was definitely a junior middle. Besides his lower back, his problem was lack of discipline, always blowing up in weight in between fights. I'll never forget seeing him at the telecast of Barrera-Morales 2 and seeing how fat he looked months prior to the fight with De La Hoya. Against guys like Joppy and Keith Holmes, Vargas would have probably been alright. But Hopkins would have shredded him worse than he did Tito and Oscar.
Cdogg is obsessed with the 24-weigh in. There are SOME guys who would be a division higher in the same-day era. Other guys would be the same division in any era. For instance, a guy like Kostya Tszyu was perfectly a junior welter in any era. I saw a poster on another forum make a valid point that Tszyu in his early 20's made 140 in the amateurs under the same-day weigh-in and did so with no problem.
