After losing to Livingstone Bramble for the second time in February of 1985, Ray Mancini went into retirement. The two difficult fights with the ‘Pitbull’ had taken a lot out of him, so he went into broadcasting, and became quite good at it.
The one fight he had always wanted was with Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, and he finally got his wish on March 6, 1989. The bout took place at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada, and was on pay-per-view. I went over my brother’s apartment to watch the show, and was pulling hard for Ray.
The fight itself was anything but exciting. Camacho ran like the wind, would land a jab or two, and run some more. Mancini was the aggressor the whole night, and landed enough hooks and solid punches to win the fight in my opinion. After twelve lackluster rounds, the judges awarded the split decision victory to Hector, not
surprising me in the least. After the fight he said to Mancini “Hey Ray! Let’s go toe to toe next time!” Those words rang hollow to me, since he just fought anything like a guy that calls himself ‘Macho’.
I wondered if Ray would continue his career, since he never got hurt, and fought a pretty good fight. He would in fact, go back into retirement, fighting just one more time. That in April of 1992, when he was stopped by Greg Haugen. I will always remember that Ray came onto the boxing scene just as boxing was becoming a real passion to me, and as a boxer I will always remember fondly.
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