A Mando Ramos Memory . . .

A Mando Ramos Memory . . .

By Rick Farris

This is a little story that Mando shared with me in 2002, shortly after I'd returned to Los Angeles from Arizona, where I had started writing about my Los Angeles boxing experiences.

Mando liked a story I had written about him and we hooked up shortly after I returned to Los Angeles. On a number of occasions I'd drive down to San Pedro and visit Mando and his wife Sylvia at their hillside condo over looking the Los Angeles Harbor, where Mando had worked as a long shoreman after retiring from the ring. We would usually go out to lunch, or Sylvia would make sandwiches and we'd just sit and watch tapes of some of the former lightweight champions fights.

I can still see the smile on Mando's face as he told me about a time when he was fifteen years old and attending a fight at the Olympic Auditorium with his future manager, Jackie McCoy. While walking up Grand Ave. to the entrance of the Olympic, Mando saw a down & out former boxing great, Filippino Speedy Dado, selling programs in front of the 18th & Grand Ave. arena.

Mando told me that Dado was wearing dirty, tattered clothes and would reach into his pocket and pull out a bottle of whiskey, take a swig and then call out, "programs, get tonights program here!" Mando was fascinated by the punch drunk former champ, who not only had the typical boxer's broken nose and scar tissue, but was also missing and eye. "You shoulda seen this guy", Mando said. "He had lost one of his eyes, but instead of wearing a patch or having the lid stitched closed, he just had an empty socket. Man, you could look right into his head."

Mando told me he couldn't resist approaching Dado and struck up a conversation. As young Mando listened wide-eyed, Dado told him how he had earned over a million dollars in the ring, had worn the finest clothes, driven the most exensive cars and made love to some of the most beautiful women in the world. After a couple of minutes listening to Speedy Dado talk, McCoy grabbed Mando by the arm and said, "OK, we gotta go now".

Mando was amazed and told Jackie, "I want to be just like him. That's what I want!" McCoy shook his head and looked the future superstar right in the eye, "OK Mando, but what does he have today? Mando didn't understand what McCoy was trying to tell him.

Mando finished his story and with a smile, "Today I understand."