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01/06/2005 Archived Entry: "MR. B.A.A.D. Lightweight King Mando Ramos heard the Cheers"
MR. B.A.A.D. Lightweight King Mando Ramos heard the Cheers
By Karl Hegman
[Editors note: Karl Hegman appears courtesy of fightworld.us]
“Hey vatos; Do you know who the best fighter in the world is pound for pound? Hands down, vatos, hands down! Los jabs, los hooks, los uppercuts…Mando Ramos!”
-Edward James Olmos’ 1992 film, “American Me”.
Mando Ramos at his peak
The West Coast boxing scene in the mid 1960’s throughout the early 1970’s was dominated by a lightweight sensation from Long Beach, California named Armando “Mando” Ramos. Mando and his older brother, Manuel learned to box in their early years from his father, Ray who was a former fighter himself. The father pushed his sons very hard to master the sport that he loved, and in their spare time when they weren’t either in the gym or in school-the boys were made to work at their Grandmother’s restaurant. Managed by the legendary Jackie McCoy -Ramos turned pro at the age of 17 and ran off 17 straight wins before dropping a decision to Kang IL Suh.
A couple of more wins followed before nails tough Frankie Crawford decisioned Mando in a hotly contested ten rounder at the Olympic Auditorium-the Mecca of LA boxing at the time. Ramos had already developed a near fanatical fan following by this time, particularly amongst female admirers. Tall for a lightweight-5’11-and boyishly handsome-Mando was the epitome of the Latin matinee idol, and his fights regularly sold out the Grand Olympic. The rabid fans packed the Olympic to the gills for their eagerly awaited rematch, and this time Ramos played the matador to the bull-brilliantly outboxing and outthinking the Irishman to a wide points decision victory. Ramos followed this win up with a non-title victory over WBC Super Featherweight Champion, Hiroshi Kobayashi in LA.
A physically gifted athlete-Ramos was one of the very first triathlete champions in the entire country, and could box equally as well as he could slug. Ramos would bound around the ring jabbing with the left and crossing with the right as lithe as a lamb; and in the next instant he would wreak havoc on his opponent’s body and head with double left hooks followed up by hurtful straight right hands before sliding out of range again. Mando could fight from both the left and the right sides and attack from 45-degree angles perfected by hundreds of hours of grueling practice in the gymnasium. Oftentimes he would forsake his physical advantages over most of the men that he faced and opted to slug with them instead of out boxing them. It was this willingness to hammer home the body and head attack with the hook that endeared him so much to LA fight fans. Brash and boastful, cocky and confident with a bright toothy gleam to his smile and a profile that drove the women wild: Mando didn’t believe there was a man alive that could beat him. When he saw then Lightweight Champion Carlos Ortiz working out at a gym in LA, he told his father-“Get me a fight with him dad, and I’ll kick his ass!”
“Mando had more natural athletic ability and potential than any fighter I have seen in my many years of covering boxing.” Said former Boxing Illustrated west coast feature writer Bill O’Neill. “I have known him since he was seventeen years old, and to look at the kid fight-you knew you were watching someone who was really special. I knew he would win the Lightweight Championship of the World someday soon. It wasn’t a matter of if he would win it-it was a matter of when.” Almost everyone who saw the fight between Ramos and World Lightweight King Carlos “Teo” Cruz thought that “when” was the night of September 27, 1968. Ramos held the upper hand throughout most of the fierce action; but the judges were more influenced by Cruz’s flashy overhand rights more so than Ramos more persistent work rate and rendered a controversial unanimous decision in favor of the Champion. “I really beat the guy the first time around,” said Mando. “It just made me that much more determined to work harder and get him back in the ring again.”
Two wins later, and Ramos was rematched with Cruz again on February 18, 1969 at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. Ramos left nothing to chance on the scorecards this time; and instead of pulling back from Cruz’s’ overhand rights-this time he ducked inside of them, raking the Dominican’s body and head with brutal left hooks. Cruz was badly cut and reduced to a punching bag when the referee rescued him in the eleventh round. The joint went ballistic with the announcement of their new Lightweight King. Ramos’ win signaled the beginning of a new era in the lightweight division.
Mando Ramos was rich, Mando Ramos was famous, Mando Ramos had unlimited ring potential. Mando also had an addiction that started innocently enough by sneaking drinks from his Grandmother’s restaurant. Pretty soon the alcohol led to marijuana, and the marijuana ultimately led to heroin. Ramos was such a natural that he trained through the booze and the horse, and was ready come fight night. “I was always having to cut weight, make weight every day. That puts a terrible strain on a young growing body. I was exceptionally tall for my weight division, and that made it all the much more harder for me to hit 135. I’m not justifying my substance abuse, but the booze and the drugs helped me to relax and forget the pain temporarily,” noted Mando. A big fight with former World Super Featherweight Champion Yoshiaki Numata was next, and the Japanese fought well in the early going before Ramos’ left hooks knocked him out in the sixth round.
In his next title defense against Panamanian Ismael Laguna; Laguna butted, elbowed, and laced his way to a 9th round TKO win and took Ramos’ title. “That was among the worst jobs of refereeing I’ve ever seen,” noted Bill O’Neill. Mando had Laguna on the way out of there with body shots, and then Laguna got dirty”. Referee Lee Grossman let him get away with everything. The rulebook was thrown out the window. Laguna was a good, but dirty fighter.” Ramos rebounded with three huge wins over Sugar Ramos, Raul Rojas, and Ruben Navarro. He then battered Pedro Carrasco by knocking him down four times-but being blatantly robbed by a mythical disqualification in Madrid, Spain for the vacant WBC Lightweight Title.
He responded by beating Carrasco twice after that and had regained his treasured Lightweight Title. Ramos was the epitome of the international jet set party boy as Champion. The handsome Mando had his pick of women around the world, even though he was married and had a baby son. “I had a beautiful wife at home, and a beautiful baby boy. My priorities were messed up then. I was more interested in getting high and scoring as many chicks as I could at the time, rather than being a good husband to my wife, and more importantly; a good father to my son, Mando Jr.”. Ramos continued to party as if there was no tomorrow-even making Mr. Blackwell’s top ten list of the worst dressed celebrities. “I thought that was real funny,” says Mando. Laguna was unwilling to fight Ramos again, and a match with Ken Buchanan fell through-so Mando took on the seemingly harmless Chango Carmona on September 15, 1972 at the LA Coliseum. The drugs and partying caught up with the cocky Californian on this day, and a guy who should have been nothing more than a sparring partner to him smashed Mando to defeat in the eighth round.
That was it for the big time and big money for Ramos. He won and lost against nondescript competition and hung up the gloves for good after losing to one Wayne Beale in Vegas in 1975. Ramos continued to get high and shoot up, but Jackie McCoy got his old protégé a job on the Long Beach waterfront after Mando’s ring career was over. Mando’s older brother, Junior died of a heroin overdose and that was enough to convince Mando to quit the junk for good. The former Champion went through terrible withdrawal symptoms kicking the addiction, but finally got rid of the heroin. He kicked the alcohol as well, and has been drug free since 1983.
It has been my privilege to known Mando and his wife Sylvia for the past several years now. Every former fighter should have a friend like Mando, and if he has a fault today-it is his generosity to former fighters down on their luck. Mando is always willing to lend rummy on the dock a five spot, and has loaned former fighters substantial amounts of money without being paid back. “Well…that’s one of the reasons why boxing needs a union today” says Mando. Other sports have it. The Longshoremen’s Union took care of me after I injured my back”. Mando suffered a debilitating back injury years ago while working on the docks, and is in almost constant pain today. He has had several major surgeries on his back. “We need a Union to take care of these guys who have no insurance, no job opportunities, and think they have no hope”. Ramos has also started Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs B.A.A.D. “We go to the schools and set up boxing programs where the kids can not only fight, but referee and time keep as well. It’s a great deterrent against gangs and the kids love it”.
Mando is a man of character and honor, and is brutally honest about his career and life these days. “My wife and I got to talking about all the things I had missed while I was drinking. Alcoholism in an emotional cancer, and it is can ruin you financially as well”. Mando has found inner peace today, and is an inspiration to his friends in the Union and boxing. He still keeps close ties with fellow Champions Bobby Chacon and Carlos Palomino, and actor Ryan O’Neal. Mando to this day remains the most popular fighter in LA ring history, and is looked up to by fellow Californians Oscar DelaHoya and Fernando Vargas. “Fernando is a good kid. I actually took one of the fighters in my program to Oxnard years ago, and he beat Vargas in the amateurs”. “I still see Danny “Little Red” Lopez often and he is doing construction work. He recently was reunited with brother Ernie after years of separation”. Another celebrity that Mando sees is distinguished actor and director Edward James Olmos. “Whenever I see Eddie, he always walks right up to me and says………….Pound for Pound”.
After writing this, I decided to take a look at my boxing magazines I have saved since my childhood to read up on friend Mando. There he was throughout the faded and yellowed pages of the Ring, Boxing Illustrated, World Boxing, International Boxing, and Big Book of Boxing. Replete in Championship splendor, Mando was a showstopper wherever he went in those days-days that went by far too fast. I know one can’t live in the past and I personally do not. I just have a hard time letting pieces of it go is all. I took a drive past my old gym and to my astonishment it had been torn down. In its place was a new racquet club filled with young girls cutting beautiful and slender figures with black, brown, and white shapely sets of legs. There were still pieces of the old Youth Center where I had learned to box in the back of the warehouse, and the custodian said he didn’t mind if I took a look. I told him I was there on business since I work for the State of Texas and flashed him my badge. The sounds of youthful giggles, tennis balls bouncing back and forth, and excited screams of joy had now replaced the ones that I was used to here. The sound of speed bags, rope skipping, hitting the heavy bag, and the grunts at punching and being punched were long gone now. I took a look at the storage bar in the back where some old parking signs were stored, and a scoreboard from one of the baseball fields was. The stuff was being sold to a scrap dealer the maintenance man told me. Then-it hit me right between the eyes. A period curio from the past stood out like the cave writings of a lost civilization: “Boxing Tuesday through Friday: 6 PM to 9 PM Saturdays 12 to 2 Gym Dues due the first of every Month”There is still something special I experience from reading those magazines I have, aside from the disbelief at how much boxing has changed since then. There is a harkening back to a simpler time when I hadn’t seen enough bad fighters and fights to dull my fistic palate. The fighters of the past were better than the ones today. There was a magic to boxing back then, and even remnants of the past such as my old magazines can bring them back, albeit fleetingly. No one can know how I really feel about boxing. No one that is………except for Mando Ramos.
Armando “Mando” Ramos, the youngest man to ever win the Lightweight Championship of the World became the very first Latin boxer to be inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, California.
Image of Mando Ramos courtesy of Ring Magazine
