Politicians and public commentators assailed the sport of boxing and the major boxing associations shorted their official bouts to a maximum of twelve rounds.īoom Boom Mancini suffered too. In the months that followed, Kim’s mother committed suicide, as did the referee of the fight. Five days later, Duk Koo Kim died from the head injuries suffered in the fight with Boom Boom. The story did not end when Kim climbed off the mat and headed for the locker room. Had the story ended there we might know the match as a great test of two men’s skills with the champion prevailing. He swung a crushing left hook that caught Kim’s nose and followed with a left-right flurry that sent Kim to the canvas. By the fourteenth round, Kim had lost all tenacity and Mancini easily landed his punches. Kim wobbled in the next round, but managed to land a few punches that let the fight continue.
A barrage that Mancini landed in the twelfth round nearly ended the fight. Televised live on CBS on a Saturday afternoon ( you can see the last rounds here), the fighters pummeled each other during the opening rounds, yet as the fight progressed, Mancini landed more blows with greater force and his pounding took a toll on Kim. On November 13, 1982, a 21-year-old Mancini entered the ring to defend his title for only the second time facing a 23-year-old challenger from South Korea named Duk Koo Kim. We get one more verse and this tackles the lasting image of Boom Boom Mancini. Don’t tell me about talent, don’t tell me about skills, tell me about your heart, about your fortitude, about your willingness to get in the ring every day. This song comes from the album Sentimental Hygiene, released in 1987, Zevon’s first studio album in five years and the first after a notorious falling from the wagon. If you can’t take the punches it don’t mean a thing” “Some have the speed and the right combinations
#Warren zevon boom boom mancini code#
The song doubles back to an early fight against then champion Alexis Arguello who “gave Boom Boom a beating/Seven weeks later he was back in the ring.” What follows is a couplet that offers a code to live by: The camera loved him and fans couldn’t resist. The bell would ring and he’d sprint to the middle of the ring and start wailing on his opponent: no artistry, no tactics, just a frenzy. Mancini stood out as a boxer not only because of his back-story, but because of his ferocious style. Boom Boom makes good on his promise, taking the title from Arturo Frias in Vegas, where else? Indeed, his father, Lenny, the first “Boom Boom”, was a contender from Youngstown back in the 1940’s, his career cut short by injuries from the war. We learn that Ray’s carrying on in the family business (“like father like son”). Calling Mancini a “light weight contender” signals the famous desperation of Marlon Brando in the movies (“I coulda been a contenda…”) and establishes that Mancini must compete for all he’s to get. Mancini’s not from somewhere in America he’s from Youngstown, Ohio, a place by the early 1980’s well past its prime where the only types of luck found were hard and none. He fought for the title with Frias in Vegas In the first verse, we glimpse an entire life:įrom Youngstown, Ohio, Ray Boom Boom ManciniĪ lightweight contender, like father like son Zevon’s paean succeeds with the sparseness and incisiveness of a Raymond Carver story. Zevon tells the tale of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, a true story, but the art comes in selecting the facts and telling them right. ( Here’s a clip of a live performance from the Letterman Show.) Peter Buck fills out the sound with wailing guitar riffs. No jingle-jangle here as Berry pounds the drumheads. His voice – direct, insistent, in your face, singing from a place that has learned some hard lessons – finds its match in the pounding and furious rhythm laid down by Bill Berry and Mike Mills of R.E.M. It comes from Warren Zevon’s song “Boom Boom Mancini,” as tough and hard a song as you will ever hear. Write a line like that and you can go home knowing you’ve done your job. “The name of the game is be hit and hit back” There’s a bizarre video of Zevon performing this song live at Boston’s South Station. To listen to Zevon perform this on the Letterman show, click here. You can hear the studio version in this tribute video to Boom Boom Mancini.
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