The Good Son: The Life of Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini

Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, a lightweight boxing champion, was one of the most popular athletes in the early 1980s. Mancini was driven to win a boxing title, something his father, Lenny, a lightweight contender, never had an opportunity to do. World War II interrupted his father's promising career.Mancini, from Youngstown, Ohio, turned pro at age 18. Although he never had a surplus of talent, his greatest assets were his unmatched work ethic, his intense desire and his refusal to back up. When he defeated Jorge Morales in May of 1981 on CBS, a star was born. Ray was the son everyone wanted to have and his father-son story resonated with viewers.Although he only had 20 pro fights at age 20, he got a WBC title fight against the seasoned Alexis Arguello (72-5). Arguello KO'd him in the 14th round. Undeterred, Mancini went after Arturo Frias, the WBA lightweight champ. When Mancini defeated Frias for the title at age 21, the New York Times wrote, "Mancini has the ebullient boy-next-door personality and exciting non-stop punching style to be a superstar."Mancini's fight against Duk Koo Kim, an Asian and Pacific lightweight champ, in November 1982, however, would change everything. Kim, like Mancini, refused to take a step back and was willing to take a beating. Prior to the fight, Kim said, "One of us will die." Unfortunately, Kim did die as the result of the beating by Mancini.In the 13th round, Mancini delivered 44 consecutive punches; Kim grabbed him and after they were separated, Mancini pounded him with 17 more punches. The fight was called 19 seconds into the 14th round.After Kim's death, Mancini's marketability plummeted and a national debate raged about abolishing boxing. After the fight, Mancini was changed in every way--physically, emotionally and mentally. He was called a murderer by many people. He tried to deal with Kim's death, but he never seemed to be able to cope with it. Mancini seemingly lost his desire after Kim's death and his heart wasn't in the sport anymore.After losing to Livingston Bramble, Mancini announced his retirement in 1983 with a 29-3 record to go into acting. He came out of retirement in 1985 and lost to Hector Camacho, and again in 1989 when he lost to Greg Haugen. Author Mark Kriegel chronicles Mancini's life after his boxing career with his wife and three kids.One of the special parts of the book is the background on Duk Koo Kim, his wife and the aftermath and consequences of Kim's death on his family and his country. Eventually, Mancini was able to meet Kim's son, who was born after his death, and Kim's wife. It was a touching meeting where they were able to share their love, understanding and respect for Kim and each other.Although this book lacks the depth of Kriegel's previous biographies on Peter Maravich and Joe Namath, it is still an excellent biography.

Ray and his career are totally interesting and very open; It is so nice to read a Biograpy about someone that holds little back. We have had to watch so many of our great fighters meet horrible endings to their lives and unfortunately trying to receive the facts about their lives in their words is very difficult.Ray Mancini is one of our great fighters who has it appeares over came the many demons that Stars encounter and is willing to share them.The book also goes into great details on almost every fight he fought and how his career was almost destroyed by the unfortunate death of his opponent Kim Duc (SP) of Korea and how his fight alterered for quite some time his path to becoming a Champion several times after losing fights due to the pchlogical demons he faced after Kim's unfortunate death due to this fight.I have the feeling that any fight fan would be very comfortable talking to Ray ( except sbout the death of Kim) whereever they met him.I found the book as well written and fun read,,,,,,,, If you like the truth and honesty written about someone from the fight game I recommend this book

First fo all Mark Kriegel's writing style has such a good flow this book was a great read and very hard to put down. The book covers Ray's Father then moves on to Ray as a young boy to where he is today. They details of the hard times of Youngstown after the mills closed and the way Ray's relationship is portrayed is really special to read. This book is fair and balanced as it also points out his flaws such as his daughter being sent away due to criminal charges as a kid going through therapy after his divorce and how he was able to recreate a strong bond with his children and even his ex-wife. The Kim fight is portrayed from both Ray and Kim's side and details a meeting between Ray and Kim's son who his fiance was pregnant with when Kiim lost his life during the fight.

Very emotional book. It was honest, happy and sad. Enjoyed reading about a life with so many ups and downs. There were times when you liked Mancini and times his decisions were disappointing.

What a disappointing book! Not because of subject matter but because of the ATROCIOUS writing! I was a kid from Philly when Ray Mancini rose to prominence and I loved the Rocky movies so of course I really liked watching Mr. Mancini's boxing matches. And I remember watching the tragic fight with Kim Duk-Koo. So of course I was very interested in reading this biography and learning more of Mancini's life after the tragedy and of learning more about Kim Duk-Koo.But I couldn't go on after the 3rd chapter. The writing was inconsistent, childish and irreverent in the wrong places. (especially concerning deaths and violence---more on this later) The author couldn't make up his mind on whether he was writing a well-researched biography, a fictional crime-noir novel or a bad script for a movie of the week reject! The writing was that bad. And detail is always good UNLESS it is wildly irrelevant details seemingly inserted to fill out a page count.I almost continued with the book because I wanted to learn more about Kim Duk-Koo and the aftermath of that tragedy. BUT I didn't trust the author to handle it with class and dignity. The author was always trying too hard to make violence and/or death seem novelized like it might be in a crime-noir movie or novel. To be honest the author's frivolous manner towards death was rather disgusting. I even read a later chapter to see if the tone changed. It didn't.Just a horribly WRITTEN biography.I truly hope that someday a GOOD author will write a biography on Ray Mancini.

A desperately sad event would effect the lives of so many people, when the combatants only were trying to follow their dreams. Life can change in a second and this truly shows that you cannot anything for granted.

Tells the real story of Mancini. He had the appalling luck to fight a very brave man who paid the ultimate. You find out the love between son and father and how he wanted to carry the boxing dream of his father into his body. Great Read and great book.

A great book about the legendary former Lightweight Champion of the World Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini, telling the amazing true story of Ray's incredible journey in and out of the ring.Highly recommended for all boxing fans.

Book for my son in law for Christmas as it is what he wanted not me cannot really comment on the contents

Really interesting good read very enjoyable book