**** FLASHBACK **** this article previously appeared on dmboxing.com on October 29, 2007 and October 8, 2016 for viewing

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

I first met Armando (Mando) Ramos in the fall of 1969, when I drove to Santa Monica to watch him train at the Surf Rider Hotel in his preparation to defend his Lightweight title against Yoshiaki Numata.

What I saw was, not a fighter in serious training. Earlier that year Ramos won the Lightweight Championship via knockout over Teo Cruz, to become the youngest to win the Lightweight title at the age of 20 years old.

But, to my surprise, I found trainer Jackie McCoy completely frustrated with Mando and his lack of concentration in the gym. He verbally chastised Mando and scowled at him for his poor training practices. That was my initial contact with Mando Ramos, which was like a teacher bawling out a student.

Mando Ramos, a personal friend of mine, was an alcoholic at the age of 13, made the drug scene at the age of 15, and was a boxing idol by the age of 18 years old. His father, Ray, a former fighter, was instrumental in starting Mando’s boxing career, working with older son Manuel and also with Mando at an early age. Mando was 5 years old fighting in the junior Golden Gloves.

In November, 1965, when Mando was only 17 years old, he had his first professional fight. He was a kid with so much natural ability that he became an instant success, winning his first 17 fights, 11 by knockout, and was packing large SRO capacity crowds into the Los Angeles, California, Olympic Auditorium.

He would become LA’s darling, and literally take boxing in L.A. to newer heights, not seen since the Golden Days of Art Aragon and Enrique Balonos. Danny Lopez and Bobby Chacon would come later.

In 1968, Mando would lose to Teo Cruz in his first bid for the championship. But the following year in a rematch, he would win the title from Cruz and go on to defend it once, in a spectacular knockout over Numata, before losing to Ismael Laguna in 1970.