Ray
Mancini – As a boy, Ray would pore over his father’s scrapbook, a
collection of brittle-brown newspaper clippings and sepia-toned glossies,
inevitably pausing to study the photograph of his father as a young
fighter, his features bloodied and swollen, the right eye clenched
shut like the seam of a mussel shell.
The elder Mancini had been
a No.1 contender in the abundantly talented lightweight division.
But his dream of a title shot ended Nov. 10, 1944, near the French
town of Metz, when he was hit with shrapnel from a German mortar shell.
At eighteen, after a successful amateur career of fifty fights
(with forty-three victories), aged eighteen, he adopted his father’s
moniker of ‘Boom Boom’ and turned pro. I was given the nickname as
a little kid, ‘Boom Boom Jr.,’ but when I started in the amateurs
I was Ray ‘Boom Boom” Mancini. But amateurs don’t put no food on the
table. You have to understand, the body only has so many fights in
it, whether it be as an amateur or pro. If you have a long amateur
career and a short pro career-or vice versa- you still have a certain
number of fights in you. Eighteen was the right time for me to turn
pro. Eighteen is also when you start to become a man. You’re through
with high school. Back in the day, you’d turn eighteen, get out of
the house, get a job. It wasn’t like your parents said, ‘We don’t
love you no more’” it was more like, ‘Get your ass out of the
house and get a job!’ That’s how it was back then.”
Mancini won
his first professional outing on October 18, 1979, against Phil Bowen
via a crunching first-round knockout. The Youngstown favorite recalled
the contest: “It was a terrific feeling especially because I’d broke
my thumb in my last amateur fight, which was in March (1979), so getting
back in the ring and winning that first fight by knockout against
a big, tall, strong guy was great.
Lightweight championship
On
May 16, 1981, Mancini won his first major title be defeating Jorge
Morales for the WBC-affiliated NABF Lightweight championship when
the referee determined that Morales could not continue after the 9th
round. Two months later, he successfully defended the title against
Jose Luis Ramirez after a unanimous decision. Mancini’s first attempt
at a world title came in his next bout on October 3 when he was pitted
against Alexis Arguello for his World Boxing Council lightweight title.
The event was selected by many (including The Ring and ESPN) as one
of the most spectacular fights of the 1980s. Mancini gave Arguello
trouble early and built a lead on the scorecards, but Arguello used
his experience to his advantage in the later rounds and stopped Mancini
in the 14th round.