LAST AMERICAN “TV IDOL” MANCINI WAS RATINGS KING
Mancini Beats Deuk Koo Kim
Canastota, NY– Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini will be inducted into the 2015 International Boxing Hall of Fame during the second weekend of June in Canastota, where the IBHOF is housed.
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Born in Youngstown, OH, Ray was a second-generation pug following his father Lenny “Boom-Boom” Mancini. The elder Mancini went 42-12 (16 KOs) battling from 1939 to 1947 and was a fair fighter. A storyline of having never gotten a title shot because he was a WW II veteran were pieces of the puzzle that turned his Italian-American son into a matinee idol. With a manager in former writer David Wolfe, its possible that Ray got a lot more out of boxing than his talent may have warranted because Wolfe was one of the best managers in history.
CBS NETWORK TV & MORT SHARNIK STRUCK OIL!
Working mainly on CBS TV, then exec Mort Sharnik was hitting triples, ratings wise, while showcasing the development of Ray Mancini. With his professional baptismal in October 1979, Mancini was unbeaten going into his 21st fight against the late Alexis Arguello in October 1981.
DESPITE KO ARGUELLO GENTLE WITH HIM
With less than two years of tenure, Mancini was a lamb being led to slaughter, as his father accompanied him to the ring. Arguello was 72-5 coming in. And while I maintain ratings, complexion, and connections put Mancini in this difficult situation, he acquitted himself well before being stopped in 14 heats.
WOLFE OUTSMARTED HIMSELF OR NOT?
If youre wondering why they were willing to chance it against Alexis, Wolfe had just watched Mancini outwork a durable veteran in Jose Luis Ramirez. Willing to gamble with a $500,000 purse and foreign TV rights, Wolfe simply could not turn down the money.
ALEXIS WAY TOO MUCH FOR “BOOM BOOM”
After taking a pretty thorough beating to the body, the head, physically, and especially to the psyche, Mancini returned to the ring less than two months later as if the Arguello encounter had never occurred.
WHO WERE THE BEST FIGHTERS RAY BEAT?
One was Ramirez. The other was Arturo Frias who engaged Mancini in a vicous give and take bout for the vacant WBA lightweight (135 lb) title crown. The belt was made available when champion Sean O’Gradys father Pat decided against allowing his son to face mandatory challenger Claude “Nothing” Noel.
FRIAS-MANCINI GOT YOU “OFF THE COUCH”
With CBS again doing the honors, both Frias and Mancini went for broke at the first bell. With the old Aladdin Hotel Theatre playing host, the fight lasted JUST 2:54. The late referee Richard Greene, after Frias had Mancini in trouble, called off the action as Ray roared back to finish Arturo off!
THE GENIUS OF DAVE WOLFE
Manager Wolfe would later tell me that because of Ray’s style, longevity, it wasn’t in the cards. Wolfe started lining up the usual suspects as challengers. After hammering an old slow Ernesto Espana, next came a man thought not to be a threat, the #1 WBA rated, Deuk Koo Kim.
DEADLY ENCOUNTER PRECEEDED BY CRYPTIC SCRAWL
Let there be no doubt, Kim came to Las Vegas to win. The day before the fight in which he lost his life, Kim scrawled the following on a Caesars Palace lampshade in his room, “Kill or be killed.“
PAISANO FULFILLED DREAM IN ITALIA
Less than two months later, Ray traveled to Italy, and went ten rounds with the pedestrain (16-7) George Feeney. With another hobo in the bank, Ray faced Peruvian Orlando Romero. The end result read TKO 10 for Mancini. The fight against the avoided southpaw Romero was pure hell for Mancini. A one-punch ending in the 9th round may have saved Ray, who although ahead on the cards, his facial features were battered.
RAY WAY TOO BIG FOR CHACON
After snacking on another opponent, Mancini was now 23 years old and 28-1 entering the Bobby Chacon clash. A natural featherweight (126), the veteran Chacon took a horrific beating from Mancini who looked “three” weight classes bogger than the “School Boy” from Pomona, CA. It would last as many rounds, three, and be Mancini’s last win professionally.
BRAMBLE HAD RAY’S NUMBER BOTH TIMES!
With Livingstone Bramble next up, Mancini would imitate conga drums as the Rastafarian beat him with relative ease. Less than 14 rounds later, a shredded Mancini was no longer WBA champ, as Hall of Fame referee Marty Denkin stopped it. In the rematch, Mancini did better in that he went the distance, but still took a beating over 15 rounds.
REALLY THOUGHT RAY WAS SMART TO QUIT!
Retiring at that point, Mancini looked older than both his years and the amount of fights he had. In A 1989 comeback, Hector Camacho out pointed Mancini, in Reno, NV. Three years later, same locale and Greg Haugen permanently retired Ray with a KO 8.
DID BOXING START TO DIE WHEN RAY LEFT?
Mancini-Richard Green-Kim
Some will say the American fight game and Network TV in particular, that soon after Bramble ran Ray into the ground a second time boxing on free TV died. Although Oscar De La Hoya had much bigger gates, fights, etc., he wasn’t the working mans hero Ray was. The last fighter to star on Network TV, one needs to realize the significant role Ray Mancini played in the mid 1980s in that he carried the sport on his back for a period of time.
RAY MANCINI BELONGS IN HALL OF FAME
Always exciting and well prepared, I feel his accomplishments justify Ray’s being enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Again, at one point in time Ray Mancini was American boxing all by himself. Thus, congrats are in store for the buzzsaw from Youngstown, whose deceased brother Lenny Jr., acording to Ray, was better of the two. The now 54-year old Mancini retired in 1992 at 29-5, 23 KOs.
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, TV commentator, radio talk show host, former San Francisco Policeman and four-time Golden Gloves champion. Comments regarding this submission can be left below under the advertising.
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RAY MANCINI TO ENTER HALL OF FAME