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From the Archives: Carlos ‘Teo’ Cruz defends world lightweight title

Sept. 27, 1968: Mando Ramos, left, and Carlos Teo Cruz during lightweight boxing championship at the Coliseum. Cruz won on an unanimous decision.
Sept. 27, 1968: Mando Ramos, left, and Carlos Teo Cruz during lightweight boxing championship at the Coliseum. Cruz won on an unanimous decision.
(Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)
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In the 1968 world lightweight boxing championship, teenager Mondo Ramos, 19, went up against the veteran Carlos “Teo” Cruz, age 30.

The Los Angeles Times reported that “About all teen-ager Mando Ramos had going for him Friday night in his bid for Carlos (Teo) Cruz’s world lightweight title was youth, guts and an unquenchable spirit … but they weren’t enough against the rugged, ringwise campaigner from Santo Domingo.”

Ramos won a Feb. 18, 1969, title rematch against Cruz. Ramos held the combined World Lightweight Champion and WBC Lightweight Champion titles twice in the early 1970s.

Carlos Cruz died in a Feb. 15, 1970, plane crash.

Ramos passed away at his San Pedro home on July 6, 2008. Here is a link to his Los Angeles Times obituary: L.A. fighter's career cut short by addictions.

Dec. 22, 1988: Mando Ramos, former world lightweight champion, works with young boxing prospects at Mahar House on the east side of Wilmington.
(Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times Archive / UCLA)

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here

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