Ex-lightweight champion Ramos dies at 59

Sports Digest

July 8, 2008

Mando Ramos, a two-time lightweight boxing champion who battled drug and alcohol abuse, died at 59.

Ramos died Sunday at his home in San Pedro, Calif., according to his wife, Sylvia. She said her husband, a diabetic, went into respiratory arrest and paramedics were unable to revive him.

Ramos turned pro in 1965, three days after his 17th birthday.

He retired a decade later with a record of 37-11-1.

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"I never really trained, not for a single fight," he once told the Los Angeles Times. "Oh, I went to the gym every day. But I drank every night. Fighters never beat me. But drugs and alcohol [did]."

Ramos stopped Carlos Teo Cruz in the 11th round in 1969 to win the lightweight title, then lost it in 1970 to Ismael Laguna. He regained the title in 1972 with a split decision over Pedro Carrasco, then lost it later in the year when Chango Carmona stopped him in the eighth round.

"By 1974, I was sleeping in cars," Ramos told the Times.

He checked into a rehabilitation clinic in the early 1980s and remained sober the rest of his life. When he got out of rehab, he started Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs, a program aimed at youngsters.

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Ex-lightweight champion Ramos dies at 59

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