Farewell to a Popular Champion: Armando “Mando” Ramos
By Dan Hernandez
Ringside Report.com
“Mando sold out the Olympic Auditorium in his ninth pro fight. He could have been Oscar De La Hoya.”--Famed Boxing Promoter, Don Chagrin
Born in Long Beach, California, on November 15, 1948, “Mando” as he was best known, died unexpectedly at his home in San Pedro, California, on July 6, 2008. He was one of the most popular and crowd-pleasing fighters in Southern California in the 1960s.
Mando began fighting at the age of nine and had a very successful amateur career before turning professional at the tender age of 17. He used a forged birth certificate to obtain his boxing license, suffering a suspension when the ruse was found out, resuming his career and becoming the youngest World Lightweight Champion in history when he was victorious over Carlos “Teo” Cruz by an 11th round knockout in February 1969. He had one successful defense before losing his belt to Ismael Laguna in 1970. He regained the WBC version of the lightweight title by winning over Pedro Carrasco in 1971, and lost this championship to Chango Carmona in 1972. He was knocked out in the last few fights of his career, retiring in 1975, just shy of his 27th birthday.
Mando was as well known for his partying ways and playboy lifestyle as he was for his slam-bang boxing style. He had been quoted as saying: “I never really trained” and “I went to the gym every day, but I drank and partied every night.” The consensus is that Mando could have been an all-time great; he had all the boxing tools, and in addition had movie star good looks, and flamboyance.
Instead of maintaining the star status he earned, he fell into a serious drug and alcohol addiction in the 1970’s. He was able to overcome these addictions in the decades following and founded “Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs,” B.A.D.D. Organization, and was active the rest of his life with the development of young fighters. Ramos was inducted into the World Hall of Fame in 1988 and participated in many of their events.
It was at the World Hall of Fame ceremonies in Ontario, California, last year that I was able to meet and share some time with him and see the caring well-intentioned man he had become. He was particularly affable and gracious to his many well wishing fans. At this meeting, it was clear that the Type 2 Diabetes and years of hard living had taken its toll in his speech and in necessitating a cane to negotiate through the crowd. It is to my regret that the intended interview we had discussed never materialized.
In speaking with an RSR Reader and California Boxing Hall of Fame resident, Frank Baltazar, SR., regarding the passing of Ramos, he responded with: “I knew Mando since he was 15 years old and won the Junior Golden Glove Tournament in El Monte, California…he was always a nice kid.” Frank also recalled: “His trainer, the great Jackie McCoy, was a shy kind of guy that didn’t do much bragging, but Jackie came up to me and said: ‘Come and see my new fighter, I’m really high on him.’” That fighter was Mando Ramos. That was high praise indeed from Jackie McCoy.
Hall of fame Promoter, Don Chagrin told me that Mando was a “super nice young man” that just loved to party as much as he loved to box. He said: “Mando was his own worst enemy, he would miss many a weigh-in, even the one for his title fight with Chango Carmona, because he was out all night.” Chagrin added: “He had it all…good fighter, big punch, and good looks. He sold out the Olympic Auditorium, 10,000 people, in only his ninth pro fight and was every bit as good looking as Oscar De La Hoya. He could have been Oscar De La Hoya.”
To put Mando’s popularity in perspective, at the time that superstar athletes like Baseball’s Mickey Mantle and Football’s Joe Namath were earning 100k per season, young Ramos was the world’s highest paid teenager at an average purse of 100k per fight. Only “The Greatest,” Muhammad Ali, commanded larger paydays. Mando was a 2-Time World Champion, fought 10 world title fights and earned millions of dollars. He had a full life and will be fondly remembered.
Mando Ramos
Division: Lightweight
Professional Record: 37-11-1, 23 KO's
Date Opponent Location Result
1965-11-18 Berlin Roberts Los Angeles, USA W PTS 5
1965-12-02 Chuey Loera Los Angeles, USA W KO 4
1966-01-27 Berlin Roberts Los Angeles, USA W KO 1
1966-03-03 Fidel Cruz Los Angeles, USA W KO 3
1966-03-17 Jose Barrera Los Angeles, USA W KO 2
1966-05-12 Bosco Basilio Los Angeles, USA W UD 6
1966-06-23 Jerry Stevens Los Angeles, USA W KO 1
1966-07-07 Joey Aguilar Los Angeles, USA W KO 8
1966-07-21 Ray Coleman Los Angeles, USA W TKO 6
1966-08-11 Manny Linson Los Angeles, USA W KO 2
1966-09-08 Jorge Baby Salazar Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1966-10-13 Allen Syers Los Angeles, USA W TKO 5
1966-11-17 Al Franklin Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1966-11-28 Al Franklin Oakland, USA W KO 4
1967-01-12 Ray Echevarria Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1967-03-30 Pete Gonzalez Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1967-06-22 Len Kesey Los Angeles, USA W TKO 5
1967-07-06 Kang Il Suh Los Angeles, USA L UD 10
1967-08-15 Alex Luna Sacramento, USA W TKO 2
1967-09-14 Eliseo Estrada Los Angeles, USA W TKO 5
1967-10-05 Frankie Crawford Los Angeles, USA L MD 10
1968-02-01 Frankie Crawford Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1968-05-02 Phil Garcia Los Angeles, USA W KO 9
1968-06-20 Hiroshi Kobayashi Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1968-09-27 Carlos Teo Cruz Los Angeles, USA L UD 15
WBC Lightweight Title
WBA Lightweight Title
1968-10-29 Billy Coleman San Antonio, USA W TKO 3
1968-12-12 Beau Jaynes Los Angeles, USA W TKO 2
1969-02-18 Carlos Teo Cruz Los Angeles, USA W TKO 11
WBC Lightweight Title
WBA Lightweight Title
1969-05-20 Jerry Graci Honolulu, USA W TKO 7
1969-10-04 Yoshiaki Numata Los Angeles, USA W KO 6
WBC Lightweight Title
WBA Lightweight Title
1970-01-13 Leonardo Aquero San Antonio, USA W UD 10
1970-03-03 Ismael Laguna Los Angeles, USA L TKO 9
WBC Lightweight Title
WBA Lightweight Title
1970-08-06 Sugar Ramos Los Angeles, USA W SD 10
1970-12-10 Raul Rojas Los Angeles, USA W KO 6
1971-09-30 Ruben Navarro Los Angeles, USA W UD 10
1971-11-05 Pedro Carrasco Madrid, Spain L DQ 12
Vacant WBC Lightweight Title
1972-02-18 Pedro Carrasco Los Angeles, USA W SD 15
WBC Lightweight Title
1972-06-28 Pedro Carrasco Madrid, Spain W SD 15
WBC Lightweight Title
1972-09-15 Chango Carmona Los Angeles, USA L TKO 8
WBC Lightweight Title
1973-08-09 Arturo Pineda Los Angeles, USA L KO 5
1974-05-03 Jaroslav Travnik Vienna, Austria D PTS 8
1974-05-10 Mi Whan Kim Luebeck, Germany W TKO 2
1974-05-16 Arpad Magyar Germany W KO 4
1974-06-03 Wolfgang Gans Luebeck, Germany L KO 2
1974-07-12 Wolfgang Gans Palma de Mallorca, Spain L TKO 5
1975-07-30 Tony Martinez Las Vegas, USA L SD 10
1975-09-02 Al Franklin Oklahoma City, USA W PTS 10
1975-10-15 Antonio Leyva Las Vegas, USA W KO 7
1975-10-29 Wayne Beale Las Vegas, USA L KO 2
"oi you, you're nicked son" :x
