Goodbye to the "Buffalo Soldier" Livingstone Bramble

    George Foreman was a much more famous name of the two recent deaths from the boxing world but in his own way, in my small existence, former WBA lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble's passing at the age of sixty-four is just as large.

Livingstone Bramble was one of my favorite boxers. It's hard not to like a guy with a dog named Snake and a snake named Dog, after all..

I was such a fan of Bramble that I named a dog after him when I brought an abandoned puppy home from the mall.

Bramble's peak wasn't a long period, but for that time, Bramble was an excellent boxer who had a way of making himself interesting and one that rarely lacked a quote or a story for the media.

Coming from the Virgin Islands, not exactly known for its massive production of boxing champions, Bramble made his first step into the boxing spotlight in June 1981 when he outslugged early ESPN darling Kenny "Bang Bang" Bogner in seven rounds of an excellent action fight to mark Bramble as a lightweight to keep tabs on but only two months later, Bramble was outboxed by slick boxing Anthony Fletcher over eight rounds in dropping a majority decision.

Bramble recovered from the defeat to Fletcher with a series of victories highlighted by wins over hard-bitten journeyman Jerome Artis and over two former world title challengers in Canada's Gaetan Hart (who challenged Aaron Pryor) and Bubba Busceme (a loser to Alexis Arguello) before a January 1984 title eliminator against undefeated Panamanian Rafael Williams.

A victory over Williams would assure a title try against WBA lightweight champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, after Bramble's unanimous decision win over Williams, Bramble would receive the chance to dethrone Mancini as a 4-1 underdog that most looked at as a showcase fight for Mancini's potential fights against either Aaron Pryor or more likely Hector "Macho" Camacho.

Bramble's chances against Mancini were considered so unlikely that the Buffalo-based card (that would include Gene Hatcher upsetting unbeaten WBA junior welterweight champion Johnny Bumphus) wasn't televised by any major network and was sold to syndicated networks around the country.

Bramble put together a mental game plan to infuriate Mancini before the bout with "voodoo spells" from his "witch doctor", who was later discovered to be Bramble's amateur basketball coach, and other statements crafted to anger the champion and change his pathway to victory.

Having grabbed the mental advantage over Mancini, Bramble then crafted the physical map for the evening to use the hard-charging aggressiveness of the champion against him, as Bramble anchored his elbows in front of his ribs in a high guard that would nullify any bodywork that Mancini could use to break Bramble down.

As Mancini attacked, Bramble's straighter punches drove through the roundhouse shots of Mancini, and Bramble used the uppercut to drive Mancini out of his stance.

When Bramble changed to fighting lefthanded midway through the fight, he began to back Mancini up and moved ahead on the scorecards, stopping him in the fourteenth round with a helpless Mancini taking blows along the ropes.

After a non-title fight against fringe contender Edwin Curet, Bramble would face Ray Mancini in an anticipated rematch from Reno, Nevada on HBO in February 1985.

The rematch was better than the first fight in action, competitiveness, and on the scorecards, with Bramble squeaking out a narrow but unanimous decision to retain his title over the battered but brave Mancini.

The Mancini victories are the biggest of Bramble's career, but his final title defense in his next fight could have been his best.

Tyrone "The Butterfly" Crawley was a staple of ESPN's Top Rank Boxing, and his pure boxing skills dazzled number one contender "Rockin'" Robin Blake in a decision win that cost Blake his mandatory contender position.

Some were picking Crawley to surprise Bramble due to his skills, and Bramble had been out of the ring for exactly one year since his win over Ray Mancini.

Instead, Bramble delivered arguably the best performance of his career as he cut the ring off on Crawley and chopped him down in the thirteenth round to keep his WBA title.

The boxing world was stirring with the potential of a unification fight with Bramble facing WBC boss Hector Camacho, and HBO attempted to build to that fight with a card from Miami entitled "The Preamble to Bramble with Camacho facing former junior lightweight champion Corneilus Boza-Edwards and Bramble against former two-time lightweight champion Edwin Rosario.

Rosario ruined those plans when he crushed Bramble in two rounds, taking his title, the Camacho fight, and Bramble never challenged for the title again.

After the Rosario defeat, Bramble fought many contenders, occasionally winning (a second-round KO of Harold Brazier) but usually losing competitive bouts to opponents such as welterweight contender Oba Carr, whom Bramble was robbed of the decision, future and former champions such as Kosyta Tszyu, Buddy McGirt, and Roger Mayweather, and contenders Freddie Pendleton, Charles Murray, Darryl Tyson, and Santtos Cardona.

Bramble's career declined as he began to lose to fighters who were far below the level of the fighters above, losing the final six fights of his career and nine of his last eleven, finishing with a career record of 40-26-3 to give the illusion that Bramble's career was mediocre.

The end may have been, but Livingstone Bramble had a run of brilliance that few fighters have at any point in their career, with memorable victories and a character that is just as memorable.