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Mando Ramos was a skinny 17-year-old with a half-dozen pro wins to his credit (having lied about his age to get a license to box) when he sparred two rounds with the great Carlos Ortiz at the Hoover Street Gym in 1966, He was unimpressed.
"Get me that bum, Jack," the Kid from Long Beach gushed to his manager, Jackie McCoy. "I can take him."
Mando told the world that he was going to be champion before he turned 21- and made good on his boast, beating Carlos "Teo" Cruz for the world lightweight title on February 18, 1969.
It was widely predicted that Mando, a fine boxer with a big punch and the heart of a lion, would hold the 135-pound title for as long as he wanted to. But he quickly ran headlong into the one fighter in the world he couldn't handle: Mando Ramos.
During his brief tenure as champion, Mando partied at a pace normally approached only by rock stars and international playboys. By his own admission, he became obsessed with booze, broads, pot, pills, and heavier stuff. He took carloads of good-time friends on wild jaunts to Las Vegas, Tijuana, and other entertainment centers—and picked up their tabs.
The kid who "had it all" became an ex-champion when Ismael Laguna slashed him to ribbons in 1970. He had just turned 21.
Mando rebounded with wins over Sugar Ramos and two of his erstwhile late-night companions—Raul Rojas and Ruben Navarro—and captured the WBC version of the divided lightweight title be beating Pedro Carrasco in Los Angeles, in 1972.
But his strength and his speed and his skills had somehow eroded, and he lost the title to Chango Carmona in his second defense and then was beaten badly by some very mediocre fighters.
Ramos is now retired and works as a long shoreman who works with former addicts and Alcoholics around Los Angeles.