Mando Ramos lived la vida loca – the crazy life – during his days as a fighter. He died Sunday morning at the age of 59 at his home in San Pedro, Calif., leaving us wondering what might have been were he not a wild and crazy guy during a 10-year career that began three days after his 17th birthday and ended 17 days before his 27th.
By all accounts, including those of his late wife Sylvia, his drinking and drug-abusing clearly hurt and shortened his career. He trained little, even for some of his bigger fights.
His good friend, former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino, said Ramos told him he ran only once during preparation for his lightweight world title defense against Pedro Carrasco in 1972 in Spain. Palomino and Ramos both fought out of Jackie McCoy’s stable.
Fighting in Carrasco’s homeland, Ramos decked Carrasco two times on his way to a split decision.
“He won the lightweight title twice,” Palomino said. “Even with the discrepancies in his training regimen, he was still able to beat people on talent.”
Palomino went on to say that Ramos was so talented that he could have had a career that would have placed him atop the ladder of all-time great lightweights had he done the right thing during his fighting days.
This might be true. But perhaps the most important thing is what Ramos did after his fighting days. He got sober 26 years ago in 1982 and in 1983 he started an organization called Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs – or B.A.A.D. A longshoreman by trade, Ramos donated hours upon hours of his time speaking to kids about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and gangs.
Palomino, who has made somewhat of a name for himself as a speaker as well as an actor, sometimes went along.
“He would call and tell me he was going to speak at some high school and he’d say, ‘Do you have a minute?’ ” Palomino, 58, recalled Sunday after the news of Ramos’ sudden death.
Sometimes people straighten out their lives, but don’t give anything back. Ramos was quite the opposite.
We spoke to Sylvia Ramos, who had been married 32 years to Mando, only hours after she found her husband groggy, hot with fever and barely responsive about 8:30 Sunday morning; he died shortly thereafter. She told a poignant story about the day recently when a young man called her husband to tell him that he had been following his advice about abstaining from alcohol and drugs.
“He called and told Mando that he didn’t do alcohol and drugs because Mando told him not to,” Sylvia Ramos said.
Sylvia Ramos stuck by her husband during the hard times. Chances are that deep down she always knew he had a good heart.
“Mando was such a good person and he tried to help people,” she said. “Alcohol and drugs is what shortened his career. After he got sober, he figured he could help kids not get started that way.”
At this point there is no way to tell if Ramos’ abuse of alcohol and drugs shortened his life. We can only surmise that it did. He had been sober for 26 years, but the stories of how hard he partied are legendary.
Those stories strike a nerve with this reporter, who nearly drank himself to death at the age of 34 and is now in his 18th year of sobriety. With all the bottles and bottles of hard liquor guzzled, it really is a wonder that yours truly made it through.
The thing is not everybody gets lucky enough to survive such an ordeal. That’s why the hope here is that when someone similar to Ramos speaks, kids listen.
Believe this, no one wants to go through the physical and emotional pain one can go through if one gets lost in the bottle. You get so bad that you’re bedridden, throwing up 10 times a day. The withdrawls? Think the worst case of the flu magnified 100 times. Those alone can kill you. And then there are the hallucinations.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Unfortunately, it is so difficult to get through to a young person. This alcoholic never listened to anyone, and he had good parents. Still does. But from the many good stories that have circulated over the years about Ramos and his work with young people, he had made a difference.
When Palomino was contacted early Sunday afternoon for comment on Ramos’ passing, he was obviously deeply saddened by the loss of someone who struggled early but got off the canvas to lead the life of a champion.
“It really is heartbreaking,” Palomino said.
At the end of the conversation, Palomino made it a point to talk about how crucial and noble it was that Ramos had done so much for society once he stopped his abuse of alcohol and drugs.
He said that what Ramos had done outside the ring was more meaningful than anything he did in the ring. And he did plenty in the ring, capturing the hearts of Los Angeles fans who saw him tussle at the Olympic Auditorium as well as the Coliseum and Sports Arena.
Ramos, born and raised in Long Beach, was involved in several brutal fights. He came away with a record of 37-11-1 with 23 knockouts. He was much too good to lose 11 times. But he made up for those setbacks by winning the post-career fight of his life.
A memorial service will take place July 18 from 4-8 p.m. at Memorial Hall, 231 West C St. in Wilmington, Calif. It is open to the public.
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