By Lyle Fitzsimmons
It was our first fight… and the end of two eras.
When old pal Phil MacDonald and I hopped in my dad’s Chevy Caprice for a trip from hometown Niagara Falls to the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo 32 years ago this week – Wednesday, to be exact – the consensus around town leaned more toward prolonged reigns than title-shifting storms.
The city’s first major boxing show in decades was intended as a dual showcase for high-profile incumbents and TV staples Johnny Bumphus and Ray Mancini – “Bump City” and “Boom Boom” – against less-accomplished suitors Gene Hatcher and Livingstone Bramble.
Hatcher and Bramble were just recognizable enough for cameos on ESPN and entertaining bluster at mid-week press conferences, but neither had measured up in the ring to a bejeweled pair that entered with 51 wins and four title defenses in 52 fights.
Hatcher’s biggest pre-Bumphus moments had arguably been a pair of losses – to eventual lightweight title challenger Tyrone Crawley in Atlantic City and longtime 130-pound champion Alfredo Escalera at Madison Square Garden – while Bramble, though he’d lost just once in 22 fights, had beaten little better than the Kenny Bogners and Rafael Williamses of the world.
The purses reflected the pre-fight contrasts in significance, with champions Mancini and Bumphus making $1 million and $175,000, respectively, while sacrificial challengers Bramble and Hatcher received the comparable pittances of $125,000 and $75,000.
But within a couple hours, the castes dramatically changed… financial and otherwise.
Far ahead on scorecards through 10 rounds, Bumphus abruptly ran short of gas in round 11 and was on the losing end of a controversial stoppage by referee Johnny LoBianco at 2:35.
A post-fight melee did nothing to change the result and the Lou Duva-groomed southpaw never again held a title – in fact lasting less than four minutes in a challenge of welterweight Lloyd Honeyghan in his final pro fight less than three years later.
Hatcher fared little better, winning and losing the WBA 140-pound title in two bouts with Argentine veteran Ubaldo Sacco within 13 months of coronation, and also falling to Honeyghan at 147 pounds – in just 45 seconds – six months after Bumphus’ failure in 1987.
All told, he dropped five of 15 fights before retiring in 1995.
As it turned out, the main event never really came close to chalk.
An accomplished counter-puncher, Bramble continually exploited Mancini’s porous defense and sliced up the Ohioan’s face before registering the TKO and snatching the WBA lightweight crown little more than 90 seconds into round 14.
He performed a similar bloodletting en route to scorecard supremacy in a rematch nine months later in Reno, but managed just one more defense – against Crawley – before a second-round KO by Edwin Rosario violently ended his reign in 1986.
A lapse into prolonged mediocrity followed his title change; with Bramble playing out a 16-25-2 string over 43 fights until calling it quits in 1997.
The first Bramble fight snuffed out a big payday against Hector Camacho, who looked crestfallen at ringside in Buffalo as his would-be payday fizzled.
As it turned out, Mancini never won again, eventually dropping a vacant WBO title try against Camacho via split decision long past its sell-by date in 1989, and retiring for good after a seventh-round loss to Greg Haugen in 1992.
He was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.
“(Camacho) was a terrific fighter, but I felt in 15 rounds I'd break him down, I'd wear him down and eventually catch him. And he didn't have a great chin, so I thought eventually I'd get that chin,” Mancini said.
“We had basically come to an agreement with Camacho, but the WBA said if you don't fight Bramble we're going to strip you. When we talked about it the first time, it should have happened back then.”
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This week's title-fight schedule:
FRIDAY
IBF lightweight title – Hollywood, Florida
Rances Barthelemy (champion/No. 2 IWBR) vs. Mickey Bey (No. 11 WBA/No. 7 IWBR)
Barthelemy (24-0, 13 KO): First title defense; Sixth fight scheduled for 12 rounds (5-0, 1 KO)
Bey (22-1-1, 10 KO): Second title fight (1-0); Held IBF title at 135 pounds (2014-15, zero defenses)
Fitzbitz says: Barthelemy is an unproven commodity at 135 pounds, which means this one comes down to what one thinks of Bey on the championship level. Me? Not much. Barthelemy by decision
SATURDAY
WBC super featherweight title – Carson, California
Francisco Vargas (champion/No. 2 IWBR) vs. Orlando Salido (No. 3 WBC/No. 9 IWBR)
Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KO): First title defense; Four straight wins by stoppage (28 total rounds)
Salido (43-13-3, 30 KO): Thirteenth title fight (6-5-1); Second fight in California (1-0, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: It should be a fun fight. But Salido hasn’t been at 130 what he was at 126, and Vargas has shown he can take a pounding and respond. That’s a contrast that’ll matter here. Vargas by decision
WBO junior middleweight title -- Liverpool, United Kingdom
Liam Smith (champion/No. 20 IWBR) vs. Predrag Radosevic (No. 8 WBO/No. 50 IWBR)
Smith (22-0-1, 12 KO): Second title fight; Fourteenth fight in Liverpool (13-0, 7 KO)
Radosevic (30-1, 11 KO): First title fight; First fight in United Kingdom
Fitzbitz says: Smith is easily a tier beneath some of the other royalty in the division – namely Lara, the Charlos and Canelo Alvarez – but he’s a tier above an untested Montenegrin. Smith by decision
Last week’s picks: 3-1 (WIN: Casimero, Nietes, Bellew; LOSS: Di Rocco)
2016 picks record: 40-9 (81.6 percent)
Overall picks record: 772-257 (75.0 percent)
NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.
Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.
