Ray Mancini: “I knew that style wise Duk Koo Kim was difficult for me — it was almost like looking at a mirror image”

I recently had a chance to speak with former lightweight champion, Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini. Mancini was one of the most popular fighters of the 1980’s with his fan friendly, straight ahead aggressive style, and was a featured boxer on prime time television. It was recently account that Mancini was among three living boxers to be named in the 2015 boxing hall of fame class. Topics discussed in this interview include, Mancini’s upcoming boxing Hall of Fame induction, Ray’s first title fight against Alexis Arguello and the death of Alexis Arguello and thoughts on his ill fated fight with Duk Koo Kim. Here is what Ray Mancini had to say.

(Click play to hear the full interview)

Robert Brown: Ray, you’re a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, how does that feel?

Ray Mancini: It’s an unbelievable feeling. When they called to tell me I was even on the ballot, that was enough for me. I’m honored they even thought of me but I said, “If I get in, I’m honored. It would be wonderful for my family, for my friends, for my town. But if I don’t, then what are you gonna do?” Some people may think I’m worthy, some people may think I’m not worthy.

I had a pretty good run at it and when one reporter called me to tell me, I said, “I didn’t think my career warranted me being in the Hall of Fame, I only fought five and a half years, I didn’t fight a long period of time.” I didn’t think of myself as a Hall of Famer but if you want to go by the quality, then I’m very appreciative that people think of me in that way.

Robert Brown: Ray, I would like to turn things to your career. I want to talk about your first world title shot against Alexis Arguello. What are your memories of that fight?

Ray Mancini: He was the true definition of champion inside and out the ring and I loved Alexis. I was a fan of his but when the opportunity arose to fight him, I jumped at it because I thought we were catching him at the right time. I thought I was catching him on the downside, I saw him when he fought Jim Watt over in England, I didn’t think he looked terribly impressive and I thought my strength and my youth would overcome his experience.

I’ve said it repeatedly, the true championship distance is fifteen, not twelve. Any ten round fighter can go twelve, very few can go fifteen. I’ve said, “If the championship distance is twelve rounds then I’m undefeated because I was beating Alexis after twelve.” If it’s twelve rounds, I’m undefeated.

I just think Alexis Arguello was such a great fighter and he’s one of these guys that set traps early in the fight, then he goes back later on to see if those traps caught. He knew he had fifteen rounds and I kept making the same mistake and he caught me and that’s what a great fighter does.

Robert Brown: I think the lasting memory for all of us is the incredible battle that you two had together and the emotional moments in the ring. Can you talk to us about that?

Ray Mancini: Yeah, of course I was so disappointed and so downhearted when I lost that fight, I thought I’d never get another shot. I thought I let my father down, I thought I let my town down, I certainly let myself down and I didn’t think I’d ever get another shot.

Alexis being the gracious champion that he is, he came over to me and he put his arm around me and said how much he loved my father and what I was doing a great thing for my father. It was a special moment, you don’t see that too often in championship fights anymore, especially after two men had gone to battle. He’s such a gracious champion, I was so honored by that. It’s funny how so many people remember that, they don’t remember the fight as much as they remember that I think.

Robert Brown: I remember being very emotional when Alexis Arguello died. As someone who fought Alexis Arguello, can you remember how you felt?

Ray Mancini: Oh I was heartbroken. I was stunned and I was heartbroken when I heard that. The thing is, they say he committed suicide and immediately I said, “No, that’s wrong, there’s something wrong there because Alexis was a happy-go-lucky person.”

Then they said how he committed suicide — that he shot himself in the chest with a rifle. If you’re gonna shoot yourself, you’re not going to shoot yourself in the chest because eventually you’ll die but you’ll bleed out and it will take a long time, it’s a painful way to go. I have a lot of friends of mine that are cops, they tell you that.

They said he had a rifle. How long were his arms? How long were his arms that he could shoot a rifle at that range into his heart? It made no sense and I’ve talked to people since who know much more and were closer to that situation and they, “No, he was speaking out against the Sandinistas.” Even though he was the mayor of Managua, he used to say, “I’m the mayor but I can’t even write a parking ticket” because he knew he was a figurehead.

He really wanted to do well, he really wanted to do something to change the atmosphere of his city but he realized that he was a pawn, he was being used and he wanted to speak out. He threatened to speak out and talk about it to the press and I believe that’s why they killed him, because he was not gonna be quiet. He was not gonna go along with the program.

Robert Brown: Can you talk about the fight where you won your world title against Arturo Frias?

Ray Mancini: After the fight with Arguello I was so heartbroken, but like most things in my life, I’m able to get past it, I make my peace. Within a couple of days I told Dave Wolf to give me another fight as soon as possible. That fight with Arguello was October 3rd of 1981 and I was back in the gym three weeks later and I fought on December 26th of 1981.

In a little over two months I was back in the ring and I won by second round knockout and then I fought on January the following year and that was a tenth round knockout over Julio Valdez and that got me the world title shot again. My point is, in a matter of four months, I fought twice again. I got back in the ring quickly and fought twice and it was important for me to do that — to give it all with my career. I have a disappointment, I grieve it and then I move on, you gotta move on.

Robert Brown: I want to ask about your title defense against Duk-Koo Kim. You said that you had a premonition about a week before the bout when you were watching tapes that this was going to be a dangerous fight, that someone might get hurt. Did you say that to someone in your camp?

Ray Mancini: No, what happened was, my manager David Wolf sent me the tapes of Kim to watch when we were talking about who was going to be our next opponent. That’s another thing I’m very proud of, of my five title defenses, four of them were mandatory defenses against a number one contender.

I fought the number one contender four out of the five times and you just have to fight whoever they put. Kim was the mandatory challenger, my manager sent me the tape, I watched a round and a half and I called him back and said, “Dave, it’s gonna be a headache but lets just go on, lets make the fight and move forward.”

I knew that style wise it was difficult for me, he’s a tough guy, southpaw that throws punches in bunches — it was almost like looking at a mirror image. I knew it was gonna be a difficult fight, I knew the whole time. People don’t have to know about a certain person, as long as the fighters know we are.

I just kept watching and I was in training camp watching tapes of him and he fought with such ferocity and passion. When you fight someone from another country, I don’t care if they don’t have the best skills, what they lack in skills they make up for it for passion, desire and determination because they’re fighting for their whole country. They’re not fighting just for themselves, so they carry their whole country in the ring with them. That’s a very daunting task to face and I knew what I was up against.

STAY TUNED TO ONTHEROPESBOXING.COM FOR PART 2 OF MY INTERVIEW WITH RAY MANCINI WHERE WE DISCUSS THE AFTERMATCH OF THE KIM FIGHT, LOSING THE TITLE AND THE UPCOMING MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO FIGHT