How good was Ray Mancini?

Ray was hard to define.. he was not an easy fight for anyone. He did beat Ramirez. I think he was hall of fame caliber barely and he came to fight. A very exciting guy who had some decent speed and power. I would have loved to see him fight Rosario. I get the feeling Ray would have beaten him.

 

I was a kid when Mancini was around and loved watching Boom Boom fight. According to my kid self, he was the best! As for an objective judgement, I think he'd be a tough night out for most guys. Good speed and combination punching, he used to lay them out.

 

There was a thread about his power a while back that had some relative input.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/ray-boom-boom-mancini-one-of-hardest-hitters.583261/

My input was this -

Well the stars have aligned and i actually mostly agree with this.

The media did indeed overhype Ray and not in a small way. The media picked up the story of his fathers plight (top contender, wounded in the war, limited thereafter) and Ray;s determination to win the title for his father and run with it in a big way from memory. It was at the forefront of his challenge with Arguello and he further won hearts after giving the slow starter Arguello trouble in the early rounds and fighting valiantly when the tide turned all the way to being stopped. Then we had the emotional scenes post fight where Mancini spoke thru tears with dad there and then Alexis gracious as ever poured praise on Ray to a rousing receeption.

Ray's huge hearted effort against Alexis and heart felt story (win the title for dad) i think led to him being somewhat overrated and the amount of press exposure didn't match the quality of product so to speak.

None of this was Ray's fault of course. I can't go so far as to call him a very good fighter but he was good or somewhere in between i guess. He had good power and heart but was very well managed as said earlier.

I think the Bramble fights give us a good glimpse into the level of both fighters. Bramble was considered one of the very top P4P boxers in the world based on just the wins over Mancini and the highly touted but unproven Tyrone Crawley. Bramble was then destroyed by Edwin Rosario, Crawley barely fought again, Bramble largley struggled and Ray retired.

Good fighters and part of an exciting little era of action packed 135'ers.

 

I agree with the above posters ,,, I watched the bramble mancini fights live on TV .. Bramble was a fighter that his jab was everything to him, for the most part, and it was great .. Mancini was tough as hell which kept him in fights

 

Good, tough fighter. Boxing would still be a major sport if we had more guys like Ray around.
The Bramble fights were incredible.

 

Ray gave Arguello a handful and Arguello is an alltime great.
He came to fight and in his prime he never quit trying. That alone makes him dangerous.

 

chin: B plus
hand speed: C plus
foot speed: C
defense: C
power: B
strength: A
heart: A

He was a good fighter

He was not really championship material, but clever marketing and match making ensured he got an alphabet strap and retained it longer than one would think he could based on ability,

Best win was a decision over Jose Luis Ramirez. He used his strength and hand speed advantage to go head to head with Ramirez and outworked him.

Gave Arguello a good, tough fight but was never at any time close to winning the fight

That he had to struggle mightily to beat obscure, middling contenders Orlando Romero and Duk Koo Kim shows his limitations.

A good, but hardly great fighter, Livingstone Bramble beat him for the title.

A superfight with Hector Camacho around '84 would have been a huge event. But, Mancini lost before it could happen. I think Hector would have outclassed him then.

 

Had a friend who loved him during this time and I had to bust his bubble by saying Arguello would punish him and Ko him. He was tough as nails with a heart every fighter should have but he wasn't all that. His skills were c+, with an A heart. A combination that will get you beat up

 

He was ahead of Alexis during one point of the bout.
Don't think he gets enough credit.

 

One negative point about Ray...he avoided fighting Youngstown hometown rival Harry Arroyo.
It would have been a big TV fight because Harry was also a popular fighter and TV fan friendly.

 

A good, but not great fighter who gave 100% ,and was entertaining.

 

He's pretty close to being an all time great.
I mean he is very underrated.
Strong,tough champion who had outstanding stamina. Tough night for most.

 

Not to be argumentative Cob but he was miles short of being an ATG, miiiiiiiiiiiles. I mean this with no disrespect, Mancini had great heart, was a fine person, a very exiting fighter and a breath of fresh air on the scene.