Anyone Remember Livingstone Bramble?

I rate him higher than a lot of people who presumably weren't around to see him at the time do. He gets crushed on this forum for some reason, but he was a very versatile, competent fighter who beat some good guys representing different styles. Then Rosario came along and bounced him, so he's a bum to everyone after that. I don't get it, personally, but that's the way it goes when you use Boxrec as your main source of information.

 

But yeah, he was pretty good.

 

He was a strong fighter. He took the belt from Ray Mancini. I wasn't really a fan of Mancini but I thought it was pretty low of Bramble to taunt him and call him a murderer regarding the Kim fight. He was a piece of ****.

 

I thought so also. He was cruel at times to Ray. I don't know how good he was. Rosario sure wiped him out like he would some second rate fighter. But against Mancini and others he was a decent counterpuncher and a strong guy.

 

He was fun to watch on free TV and really had Boom Boom's number in that first fight. But damn, he fought on W A Y too long. It was sad seeing him in later years so completely shot.

 

I was impressed by the way he not just beat Mancini twice, but then turned around and completely handled a guy wearing a totally different style, Tyrone Crawley. His name isn't much now, but at the time the magazines were calling him the best pure boxer in the lightweight division.

On the heels of THAT performance, KO Magazine was ranking him third in the world, pound-for-pound. All of that seems forgotten now. Not saying such laurels weren't bestowed on him prematurely as they often are, but there's a reason people were taking that much note of him.

 

Later in his career he had an Awesome war with Oba Carr. Carr won but may be worth watching.

 

He was scary for a short period. He had a rock jaw, could box but really put pressure, body punches and very sharp punching together with his natural strength for one formidable individual. Then the immovable object (him) met the irresistible force (Rosario) and that KO had the same effect on him that the Weaver KO on Tate had, or the Ganigan KO on O'Grady had or the McCallum KO on Curry had. They were never the same.

 

I thought I read in Mancini's bio "The Good Son" that Bramble did indeed recant that comment.

 

Bramble was a strange one. He really beat Mancini pretty decisively the first time .. the second time was close but Ray was at the point his skin was shot and it really impacted him .. as mentioned he then looked good against Crawley in what was supposed to be a challenging fight .. then Rosario absolutely destroyed him. It was a huge upset of sorts at the time as Rosario was considered damaged goods at the time and Bramble was at the height of his post Mancini fame. He was pretty disliked by many for his arrogance and nastiness to Mancini, pretty volatile for the time. Then after a few years he became an opponent that lost as often as won .. a pretty fast drop-off .. who knows what makes guys tick. One thing for sure, when Rosario hit you it changed careers .. Camacho was never the same and neither was Bramble.

 

That's good I hope that he did. Sometimes though the damage is already done and it served it's purpose.

 

They both embraced with genuine affection at the end of their second fight which was a non stop brutal 15 rounder.