By Lee Groves
May 8, 1982, Las Vegas, Nevada - The realization of a dream is one of life’s most powerful moments, especially when that moment is preceded by years of hard work and sacrifice. It is even more so after one fails the first time on the big stage, only to have fate (and the powers that be) smile on you and provide a second chance.
Now imagine the dream coming true in most spectacular fashion before a roaring crowd, a national TV audience and – most importantly – his parents, and one will have a sense of what Ray Mancini must have felt as he was declared the new WBA lightweight champion. The explosion of joy, the flowing of tears and the pure satisfaction had the feel of an old-time Hollywood movie, so it is fitting that the man known as "Boom Boom" in the ring is now spending his time making movies.
But the Mancini story began before Ray was even born. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, a dynamic young lightweight named Lenny "Boom Boom" Mancini was blowing through one opponent after another, and eventually he earned a non-title fight with lightweight champion Sammy Angott in 1941. Angott won a decision that most observers thought Lenny deserved. A rematch – this time for the title – was being negotiated when Lenny received his draft notice from selective service on January 15, 1942. The Army, unmoved by Lenny’s story, said no furloughs or delays would be offered and it rejected his offer to donate his title fight purse to the war effort.
While fighting in Metz, Lenny was hit by mortar fire. Thirteen pieces of shrapnel were lodged in his body and doctors predicted he would be paralyzed. By the time he recovered from his injuries, the 5-2 Lenny carried heavyweight poundage, but through his typical perseverance he returned to the ring as a welterweight. Over the next three years Lenny won 14 of his next 16 fights, six by knockout, and a match with Rocky Graziano was discussed but never signed. Lenny lost his last four fights, the last two coming to Rocky Castellani. His final record was 42-12-3 (16 KO).
Upon retirement, Lenny eloped with his girlfriend Ellen and began a career with General Fireproofing in Youngstown. Ray was born when Lenny was 42, and while Ray was a child he heard the stories of his father’s life as a boxer. A scrapbook detailing Lenny’s career was kept in the attic and though Ray wasn’t allowed to see it unattended he managed to sneak up from time to time and look through it. It was in that attic that the seeds of a dream were sown.
At age 15, Ray surprised everyone by announcing he wanted to train for the Junior Olympics. It represented the first step to fulfilling a plan aimed at winning a professional world championship for his father, who warned Ray about the hardships a boxing career might produce. Undeterred, Ray enjoyed a stellar amateur career and turned pro on October 18, 1979 with a one-round KO of Phil Bowen in Struthers, Ohio. Mancini knocked out 10 of his first 11 opponents and survived his first "step-up" fights by beating Johnny Summerhays (W 10) and later Norman Goins (KO 2) and Al Ford (W 10).
Mancini won the NABF lightweight title by knocking out Jorge Morales in nine rounds to earn a bout with the 71-3 Jose Luis Ramirez, with the winner promised a title shot with WBC champion Alexis Arguello. Given the styles, Mancini-Ramirez promised to be an all-out war but "Boom Boom" surprised everyone by turning boxer, jabbing and moving his way to a lopsided 12-round decision.
At age 20, Mancini was in position to fulfill what he felt was his destiny. On October 3, 1981 in Atlantic City, Mancini began the Arguello fight strongly and was ahead at the halfway point. But Arguello gathered himself and proceeded to pick Mancini apart with an exquisite array of jabs and power punches that eventually scored a knockdown in the 12th. Mancini suffered bad beatings in the 13th and 14th before referee Tony Perez called a halt at the 1:44 mark of round 14 after being floored by a final right cross to the jaw.
Heartbroken, Mancini thought he had lost his one and only opportunity to win a championship. But his strong challenge of Arguello – combined with his exciting style, good looks, charisma and dramatic story – enabled Mancini to secure a second chance against WBA champion Arturo Frias following wins over Manuel Abedoy (KO 2) and Julio "Diablito" Valdez (KO 10).
While Mancini’s story made him a natural fan favorite, Frias was also a feel-good story. Born in East Los Angeles, Frias fell in love with boxing when he received his first set of gloves at age six. His early idol was Mando Ramos and when he heard Ramos was going to appear at the Resurrection Athletic Club near his home, he had to be there.
"I rushed down there to see him," Frias said in the April 1982 edition of International Boxing. "Just being near the champ and seeing other kids my age box settled it. I was going to be a boxer! I asked the program director if I could be in the next tournament and he told me okay – if I helped take care of the gym. He handed me a broom, and that’s how I got started."
Frias began his amateur career at age 10 and won 102 of his 111 amateur fights before turning pro in 1975. He won 16 straight to begin his career, then laid off for 25 months because of hand injuries. While he waited for his hands to heal, he drove a truck for a linen company. When he returned to the ring in June 1980, he won four more fights to earn a crack at former WBA lightweight champion Ernesto Espana. Frias gave all Espana could handle, but because the fight was held in Caracas, Venezuela, the home country fighter emerged with a controversial majority decision win. Undeterred, Frias fought three months later and scored a 10-round win over Rosendo Ramirez, then rebounded from a first-round knockdown to bludgeon highly touted Mexican Juan Graciano in five rounds.
Then fate smiled on Frias.
Gonzalo Montellano was to fight champion Claude Noel for the WBA title, but "Sonny" suffered an injury in training. The number-five Frias had been preparing for a fight to take place the week after the December 5, 1981 Noel-Montellano bout, so Frias eagerly accepted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Seizing the day, Frias applied ceaseless pressure and dominated throughout. In the eighth round, Frias slammed home a counter right that caught Noel winding up on a right uppercut. The Trinidad native was unable to beat Mills Lane’s 10-count and at the 1:52 mark Frias had scored one of the year’s big surprises.
"It felt beautiful," Frias said of the knockout punch. "It’s the proudest day of my life. I’m proud to be an American and I’m proud to be lightweight champion of the world."
Two months later, Frias avenged his loss to perennial lightweight title challenger Espana by winning a technical decision in nine rounds, then signed to defend against Mancini May 8, 1982 in Las Vegas. Mancini-Frias matched two physically strong brawlers whose styles guaranteed fistic fireworks. For Frias to win, he had to exploit Mancini’s easily penetrated defense and the scar tissue above his eyes. Mancini, by far the physically stronger man, wanted to use his superior work rate and punching power to overwhelm the champion. Also, Mancini had to like his chances to win because this time he didn’t have a legend standing in the other corner.
As the opening bell rang, Frias quickly kneeled in his corner and crossed himself while Mancini advanced to ring center behind a bob-and-weave defense. Both men exchanged jabs, with Mancini’s heavier and more accurate. The feeling-out phase lasted less than 20 seconds as Mancini ripped a right to the body and a double hook to the body and head and Frias connected with a one-two. Encouraged, Frias jumped in with another one-two and followed it with a scorching hook that exploded off Mancini’s cheek. "Boom Boom" staggered toward the ropes with Frias pursuing him, but Mancini managed to grab Frias and turn him toward the ropes.
Frias landed a right to the body and a right to the jaw while Mancini countered with a hook to the face. Mancini ducked under a Frias right and connected with another hook. Frias whaled away with rights under and over while Mancini worked the left overtime. Frias nailed Mancini with two jabs and an inside right to the jaw and a second right deflected off Mancini’s upraised arms.
The fight might as well have been scheduled for three rounds instead of 15 because both men fought with no regard for anything beyond that. Mancini and Frias were engaged in a high-speed firefight that could only end in an early knockout. The only questions now were "who" and "when."
Surprisingly, Frias was getting the better of the exchanges and he even managed to back up the bull-strong "Boom Boom" a few steps. Frias tagged Mancini with a sharp one-two and ducked under a wide Mancini hook, then dug a right to the solar plexus, a second one to the ribs and countered a Mancini body hook with a short right to the jaw. The champion, briefly in a southpaw stance, landed a left cross to the jaw, then switched back and missed with a one-two.
Despite getting the worst of the early chest-to-chest warfare, Mancini continued to engage the champion in the trenches. He missed with a short hook over Frias’ head but drove a right to the ribs. Mancini whiffed on a wide hook, then shifted slightly to his right and nailed Frias with a compact hook to the jaw that caught the champion in mid-punch. Frias, momentarily stunned, latched on and referee Richard Greene broke them for the first time in the match.
Mancini slipped a Frias jab and fired a right to the body and landed a cuffing hook to the chin. Frias connected with a jab at long range, but the action swiftly returned to the inside. Mancini missed a hook but a right to the ribs and a hook to the jaw enabled "Boom Boom" to back up the champion for the first time.
Frias emerged with a slice under the left eye but that didn’t stop him from cranking five consecutive rights to the body followed by a right uppercut to the jaw and a cross to the head. Through it all, Mancini unleashed left after left, missing with most but forcing Frias to expend more energy than he surely wanted.
After Mancini cracked a hook off Frias’ jaw, Frias sprung a right uppercut that landed cleanly. Mancini landed a counter hook to the head and banged two more at short range while bulling Frias to the ropes. With his back to the ropes, Frias fired two rights to the body and blasted a right-left to the head, sparking a furious exchange that brought the crowd to its feet and roaring. The two men resembled pinwheels blown by gale-force winds and there was no sign of letup.
Frias didn’t sport the sculpted upper body of Mancini, but he proved he was his equal in terms of desire and physical strength. He was winning the exchanges and was showing the experts that he was more than a club fighter who became a champion as a result of being at the right place and the right time. Given his style, however, he couldn’t have fought Mancini any other way and he was about to pay the price for his courageous stand.
At ring center, Mancini unleashed a scorching four-punch combination that shifted the momentum powerfully and irreversibly. A looping hook and overhand right crashed in and a wicked hook wobbled Frias. Seeing this, Mancini swooped in and connected with a tremendous inside hook to the jaw that dumped Frias on his behind.
Up at three, Frias suddenly looked the worse for wear. A glob of mucous hung from his upper lip and more blood flowed from underneath his left eye. When Greene asked Frias if he was OK he nodded his assent, and the fight continued.
Mancini stormed in behind a wild right and a hook to the body steered Frias to the ropes. Smelling victory and the realization of his dream – "Boom Boom" emptied his guns and unleashed a hailstorm of blows under which no one could be expected to weather. Over the next 16 seconds, Mancini fired 34 blows –landing 23 of them – and Frias was unable to respond with a single blow. At the 2:54 mark, Greene stepped in and stopped the fight, sparking a wild celebration. A jubilant Mancini leaped into the arms of his handlers and blew a kiss to the crowd. As he was lifted into the air, one look at Mancini’s left eye proved Frias wasn’t the only one who suffered. A mouse below and a cut above framed Mancini’s eye, but at this juncture he felt no pain whatsoever.
He fought through the crowd to congratulate Frias on his stirring effort, and a few seconds later Mancini’s parents Lenny and Ellen joined the new champion in the ring.
When Mancini spotted them, he no longer was the rough, tough champion but a proud son who wanted nothing more than to share his triumph with the man who served as his inspiration and the woman who gave him unconditional support and encouragement. Overcome with emotion, Ray wept as he hugged his parents simultaneously. Only they –and Mancini’s siblings – could fully grasp the significance.
"I thank God for the strength and power he gave me to win (Frias’) title," Mancini said after the fight. "I’ve been on both ends of the coin and I know how it feels to win and to lose. Art is still a champion. Nobody can take that away from him."
Addressing Frias’ effort, Mancini said, "Art stung me early; he was all over me. I was hoping to just get through the first round. But then when I got him on the ropes I just kept throwing punches until the referee stopped the fight. Who knows what would have happened if the fight had gone onto the second and third round? This is the greatest thing in my life, and I will be a true champion. I will give everyone who deserves it a shot at my title. And I certainly will give Art a rematch. He gave me a chance at his title. Now I will give him a chance at mine."
Epilogue: There would be no rematch with Frias, but Mancini fulfilled his promise of being a fighting champion. Ten weeks after winning the title, he knocked out Ernesto Espana in six rounds before an adoring crowd in Warren, Ohio. But that triumph was followed by tragedy as Mancini knocked out Deuk Koo Kim after 14 action-packed rounds. Kim died four days after the bout and a grotesque twist of fate Kim’s mother and referee Richard Greene committed suicide within four months after the bout. The Mancini-Kim result prompted the WBC to reduce its championship fights from 15 rounds to 12.
Mancini, a deeply sensitive man, would never be the same. Less than two months later he decisioned George Feeney in a non-title fight, then struggled at times against Orlando Romero before blasting him out with a single hook to the jaw. "Boom Boom" was more impressive against Johnny Torres (KO 1) and Bobby Chacon (KO 3) but Livingstone Bramble surprised many by ripping the title away by 14th round stoppage on June 1, 1984 in Buffalo. In the rematch in Reno eight months later, Mancini put forth a determined stand, fighting through a multitude of cuts before losing a highly controversial split decision to Bramble.
Only three weeks short of his 25th birthday, Mancini announced his retirement. But Mancini couldn’t resist the urge to make a comeback – or two. On March 6, 1989, "Boom Boom" looked surprisingly good in a 12-round split decision loss to Hector Camacho. Unfortunately for Mancini, it wasn’t his swan song – that event came on April 3, 1992 against Greg Haugen, who knocked him out in seven rounds. Mancini’s final record was 29-5 (23 KO). Mancini was just one month past age 31 at the time of the Haugen fight.
Like Mancini, Frias re-entered the ring two months later but wasn’t nearly as successful as Ruben Munoz stopped him in five rounds. But Frias bounced back nicely with wins over Joe Perez (W 10), Javier Rios (KO 3), Jerry Lewis (TD 4) and Jose Torres (W 10).
Frias’ momentum was stopped cold as the 15-17-2 Kelvin Lampkin scored a nine-round TKO. Frias ended his career on August 15, 1985 in Sacramento by losing to Bobby Chacon in five rounds. At age 28, Frias retired with a 28-5 (8 KO) mark.
To purchase Lee Groves' book "Tales From the Vault: A Celebration of 100 Boxing Closet Classics," visit the following links:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Vault-Celebration-Boxing-Classics/dp/1449965601
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