Miles Templeton Boxing historian
ALTHOUGH Mexico has produced some outstanding fighters, the country is not known for producing worldclass heavyweights. That has all changed with Andy Ruiz Jnr. An American by birth, Ruiz has Mexican roots, and he represented that country as an amateur. Another American of Mexican heritage, Chris Arreola, has had three cracks at the WBC heavyweight title but has failed to last the distance in any of them. Arreola, though, was not the first Mexican to challenge for world heavyweight honours, as Manuel Ramos, now largely forgotten, took this accolade in 1968 when he fought the legendary Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden.
At the time, Ramos had fought his way to being ranked at No. 4 in the world by The Ring magazine. Boxing News was a little more cautious, placing the Mexican at No. 8. Ramos stood at 6ft 4ins, and in his climb from obscurity he had beaten two excellent contenders, Ernie Terrell and Eddie Machen. In neither contest did he dominate proceedings, but his punching power had seen him through. Within the first minute of the contest he briefly staggered Frazier and an upset looked on the cards, but his lack of class was then brutally exposed by the young Frazier, one of the all-time greats, and Ramos retired on his stool after two rounds.