Alex "The Bronx Bomber" Ramos has over 30 years experience in the sport of boxing, starting his career training at the age of 11 years old in the Bronx, New York. He was one of the most celebrated amateur boxers ever to come from the State of New York, winning 4 New York Golden Gloves, PAL National Champion, Empire State Games Champion, Junior Olympic Gold Medallist, AAU National Champion and member of the USA Boxing Team from 1978-1980. When President Carter boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Ramos turned pro, signing with Top Rank at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. Alex became the 1984 USBA Middleweight Champion and the 1986 California Middleweight Champion. His last professional fight was in 1995 against Jorge Castro in Argentina for the WBA Middleweight Championship. [Video: Alex Ramos vs. Curtis Parker )-Slugfest - Part 1-3]

Alex Ramos founded the Retired Boxers Foundation (RBF) shortly after his career in boxing ended, officially incorporating the organization in 2000. The Mission of the RBF is to assist retired professional boxers in the transition from their glorious days in the ring to a dignified retirement. Professional boxing is the only sport that does not provide a retirement plan or pension for the athletes, and too many professional boxers end their careers unprepared for the life after boxing. The organization is entering its fifth year, making a major impact on the sport of boxing and acquiring the respect of many important people throughout the world. The Board of Directors and Honorary Board include Bo Derek, James Carville, Ron Shelton, Lolita Davidovich, Frank Stallone, Bill Farley (Playboy), Colonel Bob Sheridan and others.

Top Boxing Writer Bernie McCoy said of Ramos, "As I told you on the phone after reviewing your story and material on your boxing career----it reinforced my feeling that your story, both in the ring and in your current capacity with RBF, is a compelling one and would translate well to the documentary screen. Each story element could, easily, stand alone, but when combined makes for a powerful tale."

"An athlete literally and figuratively fighting his way out ...off the mean streets of the Bronx, traversing the pitfalls of the cruelest of sports, making headlines in the ring while, at the same time, falling prey the almost ritual mistakes of every young athlete. The story of reaching the cusp of the top of the boxing world is one of success and failure that serves as both encouragement and a cautionary tale for those thinking of a future in boxing or for others who are drawn to the sport as fans. That part of the story alone serves to powerfully establish your credibility for the second segment."

"Which is, unmistakably, a story of redemption and giving back to a sport that has, at the same time, given and cost you so much. The fact that you have devoted your time and effort, your being, to trying to improve the lot of those fighters who have been ravaged much more savagely by the sport is singular in itself. That you are getting little more than cursory recognition from those in the boxing community who have and continue to gain financially from the sport is a tragedy of unspeakable proportion."

"If the theme of the first part of the story is one of success and failure so common to the sport, then the subsequent theme of the second part is one or rage: rage, on behalf of those fighters who have given the prime of their lives to a sport that has largely abandoned them. It's a rage encapsulated in questions to the boxing community and their benign neglect of your efforts. Questions that you continue to ask the boxing establishment on behalf of those neglected by that boxing community: "If not you, Who? If not now, When?"

In an interview by Tony Nobbs, Ramos spoke of his early involvement in the sport, "I was born in Manhattan, New York but grew up in the South Bronx, an impoverished area of many immigrants that Time Magazine called (in 1980) the “Beirut of North America”. It's there that I witnessed my first homicide at the age of eight. My mother and father were from Puerto Rico. My mother was a teacher and my father had been a carnival fighter and an awnings mechanic as a young man. My father loved boxing and would drag me away from my sisters to watch boxing on television. I was only mildly interested in boxing until I realized I shared the same birthday, January 17, with Muhammad Ali. I then became fascinated with Ali – his talk and antics in the ring. By the time I was ten my dad had taken me to a gym and by eleven I knew I was going to be a boxer. By thirteen I was knocking out 23 year old grown men. Still a child I boxed at Gil Clancy's Solar Boxing Gym, where Emile Griffith trained. Jerry Quarry gave me a pair of Adidas Boxing shoes and I was so honored. I also trained at the Bronxchester Gym where my mentor Luis Camacho trained me and became a second father to me. When I fought, Luis was in my corner and so was Lenny DeJesus. Whenever I won, Luis would buy me as Many Big Mac's as I could eat. For a poor kid from the Bronx, this was a real treat. The major liquor store also gave me a bottle of champagne every time I won. This would be the beginning of a very bad habit that would eventually nearly destroy my life, but at the time I was a kid caught up in the celebration of victory."

Some of the highlights of Ramos' boxing career were winning four New York Golden Gloves, knocking out some superb boxers who would become more famous than Ramos.   Ramos beat several recognized boxers and he also credit Mike “The Bodysnatcher” Mc Callum with saving his life. Mc Callum was with Ramos in the 1980 New York semi finals and had he not beaten him he would have been on the flight carrying the USA Boxing Team to Warsaw, Poland. The plane crashed, killing so many great fighters, trainers, corner men, all of whom were Ramos' friends. Ramos had stayed in New York City to contest the final that he won beating Ramon Nieto.

In addition to the New York Golden Gloves, Ramos won nearly every tournament he had competed in, including the Empire State Games, PAL, AAU etc.  Ramos accumulated an amateur record of an astounding 189 fights with nine losses, and two draws. he won 132 by knockout.

Ramos' amateur career ended in 1980, when it was railroaded by an action of President Jimmy Carter, who boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Ramos was favored to win the Gold Medal and it was a devastating blow to all of the amateur boxers who would have had to fantastic opportunity.  Ramos said, "had I been able to win the Olympic Gold Medal I would have had a very different career. As it was,  I signed a contract with Top Rank, negotiated by my manager Shelly Finkel. I was Shelly's first fighter."  Finkel had gone on to manage such greats as Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Pernell Whittaker and many other top fighters in the sport.

A great honor for Ramos was being selected as a U.S.A. torch bearer for the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay.  Ramos had been denied his opportunity to participate in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow when it was boycotted  and he  never had the chance to realize his dream of "Olympic Gold." Twenty-four years later, he was honored to carry the Olympic Torch in Los Angeles, California!  The historical event was held from June 16-19, 


MEDIA:

Alex Ramos is a charismatic, handsome, articulate spokesperson for the sport of boxing and has been featured on several international media pieces, including television, print and electronic media, including:

TELEVISION
Translator-Show Box-2004
Celebrity Boxing (Fox) 2002
ABC World News Tonight-Aging Athletes-
Lance Armstrong, Andre Agassi-2003
Court TV - Catherine Crier Show- 2000
Pilot-Fantasy Island (Lead part as boxing trainer) 2001
20 Television Interviews – Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Miami
22 Televised Boxing Shows for Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN, HBO, Univision, Telefutura
NBC Interviews for “Tomorrow’s Champions”
with Howard Cosell
NDR, German Network Television
BBC & KOTV (51 Countries)
Danish Television Documentary


PRINT MEDIA
Time Magazine (1980)
Gentleman’s Quarterly
Penthouse
Boxing Monthly
Ring Magazine
KO Magazine
ELECTRONIC
Over 500 feature web articles

OTHER SPECIAL HONORS

9-26-2009 Jacquie Richardson and Alex Ramos on your election into the California Boxing Hall of Fame.

08-16-2008 Alex Ramos honored and inducted into The African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame.

09-28-2007 Alex Ramos honored with The 2007 Inaugural Boxing & Jazz Appreciation Awards.

01-07-2007 The Thirty Greatest NYC Golden Gloves Champions - Top Ranking for Alex Ramos. Four-time Golden Gloves Champ 1977-1980, National AAU Middleweight Champion 1979. Link to ranking

05-05-2006 Alex Ramos selected by the Boxing Writers Association of America to receive the Marvin Kohn Good Guy Award.

2006 AAPRP Medical Boxing Awards - Outstanding Contribution to Boxing – Mr. Alex Ramos
(Retired Boxing Foundation – Founder & Director)

06-16-2004 Alex Ramos selected as U.S.A. Torchbearer for ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay.

12-10-2002 Alex Ramos receives Award at WBC Convention in Tokyo.