Sugar Ramos

Ultiminio Ramos Zaqueira, known as “Sugar” Ramos, was a Cuban-born Mexican featherweight and lightweight who held the world featherweight championship from 1963 to 1964. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, on 2 December 1941, he established himself internationally after settling in Mexico. An orthodox boxer, approximately 5ft 4½in tall with a 68in reach, he combined accomplished boxing with substantial punching power, particularly in his right hand. His professional career ended with 55 victories, seven defeats and four draws, including 40 wins by knockout.

Ramos began amateur boxing at fourteen and reportedly contested more than 100 amateur bouts before turning professional. His debut came at the Palacio de Deportes in Havana on 5 October 1957, when he stopped René Arce in the second round, aged fifteen. His early career developed principally in Cuba, with appearances in Venezuela and Panama broadening his experience. On 8 November 1958, he knocked out José Blanco in the eighth round in Havana. Blanco subsequently died from injuries sustained in the contest, the first of two fatal bouts associated with Ramos’s career. In February 1960, Ramos outpointed Orlando Castillo over twelve rounds to win the Cuban featherweight championship. He later relocated to Mexico as professional boxing was being suppressed in his homeland.

Mexico provided a substantial market for Ramos’s abilities, and his career increasingly took him beyond its borders. He defeated Rafiu King in Paris and stopped Danny Valdez at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles during 1962. Managed by Cuco Conde and trained by Angelo Dundee, Ramos developed into a leading featherweight contender. His record reflected both his finishing ability and his capacity to win against experienced opposition over longer distances. By the time he challenged Davey Moore, his only professional defeat had come by disqualification against Rafael Camacho in December 1961.

The championship opportunity arrived at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on 21 March 1963. Moore was making his sixth world featherweight title defence, and the contest formed part of a programme featuring three world championship bouts. Ramos stopped him after ten rounds, with Moore’s manager, Willie Ketchum, requesting the intervention following the punishment his fighter had taken. Ramos became the recognised world featherweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC and Ring championships. Moore spoke to reporters afterwards but subsequently lost consciousness and died on 25 March. His death brought renewed public scrutiny of boxing and became the subject of Bob Dylan’s song “Who Killed Davey Moore?” The sporting achievement and the fatal consequences remained inseparable in accounts of Ramos’s championship victory.

Ramos made three successful championship defences, each in a different country. He unanimously outpointed Rafiu King over fifteen rounds in Mexico City on 13 July 1963, stopped Mitsunori Seki in the sixth round in Tokyo on 1 March 1964, and retained the championship through a disputed fifteen-round split decision against Floyd Robertson in Accra on 9 May. These assignments demonstrated the international scope of his reign and required him to defend away from his adopted home. His championship ended against Vicente Saldivar at El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Mexico City on 26 September 1964. Before approximately 24,000 spectators, Saldivar’s sustained attack wore Ramos down. The champion suffered heavily in the closing rounds and could not answer the bell for the twelfth.

Moving into the lightweight division, Ramos won five consecutive contests before challenging Carlos Ortiz on 22 October 1966. He dropped Ortiz with a lead right in the second round, but a cut above his own left eye brought referee Billy Conn’s intervention in the fifth. The stoppage provoked disorder among the Mexico City crowd and a dispute between championship officials. A WBC representative attempted to order the contest resumed, then declared Ramos the winner when Ortiz refused to return from his dressing room. The WBA continued to recognise Ortiz, while the WBC declared its championship vacant and required a rematch. Ramos’s second challenge, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan on 1 July 1967, ended in a fourth-round stoppage defeat. He never again contested a world championship.

Ramos nevertheless remained capable of beating significant opposition. He stopped the future lightweight champion Erubey “Chango” Carmona in seven rounds in Tijuana in September 1969 and earned a majority decision over former featherweight champion Raul Rojas in Los Angeles in March 1970. A split-decision defeat by former lightweight champion Mando Ramos followed that August. His later appearances continued across Mexico and the United States, but the championship phase of his career had passed. His final contest was a tenth-round stoppage defeat against Cesar Sinda at the Forum in Inglewood on 24 April 1972. He retired at thirty, after a professional career spanning almost fifteen years.

Ramos remained in Mexico after retirement. Cuban music and dancing were longstanding interests, and he played percussion with tropical music groups. He also appeared as himself in the 1984 film Las Glorias del Gran Púas. His boxing achievements received formal recognition through induction into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in Mexico City on 3 September 2017, aged seventy-five, following cancer, and was survived by four children. His record places his principal accomplishments firmly at featherweight: an undisputed championship, three successful defences and victories achieved across several major boxing centres.