Sugar Ramos, 75, boxer remembered for fatal fight, dies

Sugar Ramos, a Cuban featherweight boxing champion who was best known for winning a title fight that led to the death of his opponent, Davey Moore, and that prompted calls to abolish the sport, died on Sunday in Mexico City. He was 75.

The World Boxing Council, which announced his death, said the cause was cancer.

The Ramos-Moore featherweight match took place on March 21, 1963, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on a card that included Emile Griffith, who was defending his welterweight crown against Luis Rodriguez. A year earlier, Griffith’s barrage of blows against a defenseless Benny Paret at Madison Square Garden caused his death.

Moore, the reigning champion, was favored. But in the 10th round Ramos took over, weakening the wobbly Moore with every punch and knocking him down. Twice, Moore hung over the ropes, fatigued and battered. When the round ended, he did not come out of his corner, conceding the fight to Ramos. Moore spoke to a television interviewer in the ring afterward and to writers in his dressing room.

But shortly after crying out to his manager, Willie Ketchum, “My head, Willie, it hurts something awful!” Moore fell unconscious, slipped into a coma and was taken to White Memorial Hospital where he later died.

There, Ramos visited Moore’s wife, Geraldine Moore, and told her he was sorry. She forgave him and, according to an article in The New York Times, said: “I realize it’s hard for you to know you aren’t the one to blame. But I’m closest to Davey, and I’m asking you not to take it that way.”

Gov. Edmund G. Brown of California and two lawmakers demanded state legislation that would outlaw boxing. The legislature tightened boxing regulations in the state but never banned it.