oogiebe wrote: ↑17 Mar 2018, 17:42
SenorPipino wrote: ↑17 Mar 2018, 16:30
oogiebe wrote: ↑17 Mar 2018, 11:54
Nice! Ali at number one HW is never a bad choice!
Well these are all just personal preferences.
There are no wrong answers here. I think.
What makes you like Ramos at Lightweight. I'm interested.
Ramos was the first non-heavyweight fighter I followed religiously during the mid to late 60s.
The youthful Ramos was simply a huge SPORTS star in Los Angeles at that time. Not just a boxing star.
Truly a star among stars in a city full of them.
And boxing was as big as any other sport in El Lay during that era. It mattered.
Ramos had looks, personality, charisma and of course immense talent.
A natural.
He was Oscar De La Hoya before there was one. And Ramos was very probably, very likely, a far better fighter.
He sold out the Olympic very early in his career (he turned pro at the ripe old age of 17 using a fake birth certificate) and would later attract sellout throngs to the bigger Sports Arena, and even draw 20,000 + at the L.A. Coliseum on 2 occasions.
Of course Ramos' career spiraled downhill fast as he quickly became involved in a non-stop party lifestyle and eventually turned to heroin.
Ramos would later say that while he trained almost every day, he was either drunk or stoned when he came to the gym.
He antics have been a nightmare for his straight-laced manager/trainer Jackie McCoy, who described Mando as the most naturally gifted fighter he had ever seen.
And Ramos probably was as talented as anyone but was obviously terribly undisciplined outside the ring.
It caught up with him rapidly after twice winning versions of the lightweight championship.
Really sad. Mando Ramos, the one-time teenage darling of the Los Angeles sports world, was washed up by 23.
He absorbed a frightful beating in 1972 from Chango Carmona that for all intents and purposes finished his career.
He was carried from the ring on a stretcher.
Years later it was revealed that Ramos suffered a drug ovedose on the beach less than a week before the fight.
It was covered up.
Nearly a year after the Carmona debacle, I returned to the Olympic to see if a comebacking Mando could regain any of his heyday form.
He took in lightweight contender Tury The Fury Pineda, a fighter who wouldn't have stood a prayer with prime Ramos.
But Ramos fought like an old man and Pineda took him out in five.
I remember the Olympic Auditorium crowd that once adored him, actually booing Ramos as he left the ring.
His star had set and the fickle fans no longer had any use for him.
But when he was at his best in the late 60s, everyone loved to watch Ramos. When he was right, he was nearly perfect. A virtuoso talent.
The greatest birthday present I ever received from my father was tickets to Ramos' legendary August 1970 war against Sugar Ramos at a packed, stifling Olympic Auditorium.
It has often been called the best and most brutal fight ever witnessed at that ancient boxing arena.
Just extraordinary stuff. Even as a kid, I knew I was witnessing something special.
I was really saddened when Mando passed at the young age of 59 about 10 years ago.
He had successfully kicked his addictions years earlier and was a mentor to at-risk youths.
There's no telling how great Ramos' legacy would be today if drugs hadn't played a major role in derailing his career.
I suppose that today's casual boxing fan has little if any knowledge of Mando Ramos. Mention his name and you'll undoubtedly get a blank stare.
Even current younger hardcore followers of the sport probably have only a vague recognition of Ramos' ring accomplishments.
I guess it was a long time ago.
But believe me. If you were around Los Angeles during Ramos' golden era, and experienced the non-stop buzz, drama and thrills he brought to the local sports scene, then you would understand why Mando Ramos is my all-time favorite lightweight.
Hey, you asked oogiebe. LOL.
