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Mancini named to Ohio Athletic Commission
One of Boom Boom’s chief goals in role
is to increase professional shows in Ohio
By Steve wilaj
Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini is the newest member of the Ohio Athletic Commission. And he joins with plenty of influence and ideas.
The former World Boxing Association lightweight champion (1982-84) was appointed to one of the five positions on Wednesday by Gov. John R. Kasich for a term lasting until Sept. 2, 2018.
The 55-year-old Youngstown native will assist in making majority decisions for the OAC — which regulates boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, kick boxing, karate, tough person contests and athlete agents within the state. He is hoping to have a particularly strong influence on boxing in Ohio, which hosted just nine professional shows in 2015.
“One thing I’m advocating is to tell these promoters to start building these fighters and let’s do these shows,” said Mancini, who called the amount of Ohio pro shows a year ago “atrocious.”
“One, for these fighters so they don’t have to travel out of town all the time. Two, we have to build local stars. Three, then there’s opportunity to bring in television and whatnot. If there’s a kid that can draw fans, then I can maybe help get a title fight here for one of the organizations through all my connections. But you have to have fights going on to build these kids up.”
Bernie Profato, the OAC’s executive director, helped Mancini join the committee and sees the International Boxing Hall of Fame member as a key asset to rebuilding the sport.
“By putting somebody like Boom Boom on the committee, I think the boxing world is going to see that and say, ‘Hey, he’s a part of it, we can believe in him,’” Profato said. “To this commission, Raymond is going to add the charisma and personality that I think the boxing world might be looking to come back to.”
The committee meets once a month, which is a duty Mancini — who resides in Youngstown — wants to fulfill despite traveling often for business.
“If I am away, I want to be in touch with everybody I need to be in touch with,” he said.
Back to his main concern, Mancini thinks the key to building more and more pro bouts will be keyed by a few factors.
“From my perspective, it’s this,” he said. “It has got to be entertaining. That’s all it’s supposed to be. Don’t give me mismatches.
“And then here’s what I hear a lot — ‘Oh the people won’t come out and support it.’ But I say, ‘Are you kidding me?’ The people in this town love fights. They’ll support it if you give them good entertainment. It just takes good fights, good undercards and reasonable prices.”
Ideally, Mancini would like Ohio to jump to 15-24 pro boxing shows per year, but at least one every month.
“I don’t think it’s lack of talent,” he said. “I think it’s lacking efforts by the promoters — they seem to be scared for no reason. I know [Southside Boxing’s] Jack Loew put on a couple shows this past year, but I would encourage him to put on one a quarter — four shows a year. Let’s get it going.”