Mando Ramos, 'quintessential L.A. fighter'

Boxer Mando Ramos, who died Sunday at age 59, fought 27 of his 49 matches in the Olympic Auditorium and also got into the ring at the Coliseum and the Sports Arena. A kid out of Long Beach, he "enjoyed a meteoric career in the boxing ring, winning the lightweight title at 20, then spent his later years helping kids avoid the twin demons of drugs and alcohol that had cut short his career," Steve Springer writes in the L.A. Times obituary.

"Who knows how good I could have been?" he once told The Times. "I never really trained, not for a single fight. Oh, I went to the gym every day. But I drank every night. Fighters never beat me. But drugs and alcohol [did].

"I really think I could have been the greatest fighter of all time -- except for this." With his index finger, Ramos tapped his temple.

After getting sober, Ramos started Boxing Against Alcohol and Drugs.