Once a Boxer, Always a Boxer: A Recap of Fred Bambino’s Boxing Career
Fred Bambino of Cleveland is watching the Golden Gloves this year. To him, there’s nothing like boxing. That was not always his mindset though. It wasn’t until he was 19, a young man in the workforce in 1978 straight from high school, that Bambino even considered the sport.
Three years later, he would become well-known in Cleveland as a three-time Golden Gloves champion.
“It was just one of those things,” Bambino said. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I was going to box.” He said he always loved sports in general as a kid and played football for what was then West Technical High School. When his father passed away in 1977 though, he said he started going out a little too much and getting into the “night life,” putting sports aside.
“I was at a point where I didn’t know what 1 wanted to do,” Bambino said.
About the same time his father passed, the famous “Rocky” movie came out, and it served to be an inspiration, he said. “It’s kind of corny, but true,” Bambino said. “It was about a tiny guy from a tiny neighborhood, and I liked that.”
He said it was then he decided maybe he should start working out. So he did.
He also went and watched the Golden Gloves. He said he thought it looked really interesting and competitive, which made him want to get back into sports. Not just any sports though.
He started waking up at six in the morning to work out, jogging and going to the YMCA on West 30th to hit the heavy bag. It was there that he met George Bowen, a former professional fighter. The “old timer,” as Bambino referred to him, was hitting the heavy bag and showed him how to hold his hands.
“Next thing you know, I saw an article about the Golden Gloves coming up, so I signed up for them,” Bambino said, knowing nothing whatsoever about boxing at the time. “All I knew is you put on the gloves, went into the ring, and started fighting.”
He trained himself, learning as he went and from the people he came across in the gym. One of his friends worked the corner in his first fight. “I don’t know who was more nervous, him or me,” Bambino said. Despite the. nervousness, he won that fight. “I got the bug right then and there,” he said.
The partying stopped too. “When I started boxing, it all stopped because boxing teaches you a lot of discipline,” he said. “Boxing is one that a kid could just walk off the street, you don’t know anything about him, and he could get in the ring and be a really good boxer.”
Bambino is living proof of that.
He met trainer Jim Kelly after his first fight who became his trainer for the duration of his boxing career. Bambino was an un-attached fighter, so when Kelly came up to him, he graciously accepted Kelly’s offer to work his corner.
He went on to win all five fights in the light-heavyweight division as a novice in 1978.
“He (Kelly) knew what to say in that corner, knew exactly what to tell me, how to calm me down, give you that confidence push you needed,” Bambino said. “I don’t care who you talk to, they’d be lying if they said they weren’t nervous their first couple of fights.”
After that win, Bambino sat out for a year and worked, but he didn’t stay away for long. In 1980, boxing struck his interest again. He saw the Golden Gloves coming up and entered for the second time.
This time around he was considered an open-division fighter although he only had five amateur fights under his belt. Under Kelly’s training, he started sparring with other fighters like Paul (Pablo) Ramos and Marc Rivera and going to different gyms, all the while gaining more experience in the ring and getting more confidence.
“Mentally, I knew I was prepared,” Bambino said. “When I was in the ring I used to think, I know this guy didn’t train as hard as me, I don’t think he ran as far as me. I knew I worked out hard, and I did everything I was supposed to do to get ready.”
He won the city division and districts that year. An injured hand prevented him from advancing to nationals, and he had to have surgery.
After recovering, Bambino said he got right back to it and trained hard for the rest of the year, running frequently, sparring four or five rounds a night, hitting the heavy bag, jumping rope and doing a lot of conditioning overall.
In 1981, he entered the Golden Gloves for his third and final time and fought in the middle-weight division. That year, he had a really good following, he said.
“People used to tease me about my left hook,” he said. “They used to say, `When Bambino hits them with a left hook, it’s gonna be lights out.’ I loved it.”
Bambino did not fail to live up to his reputation either. He had five fights, and all five were first-round knockouts. He deemed this his favorite moment of his boxing career. “It’s kind of an accomplishment not a lot of people do,” he said.
He also won the most outstanding boxer trophy for the city and district tournaments and proceeded to the national Golden Gloves tournament.
He lost at nationals in his first fight to a guy who was ranked fourth in the country. “They mix you with whoever,” he said, “and he happened to be one of the better fighters in the country.”
Bambino ended up with a 34-4 amateur record. He turned pro in 1981 at 22 years old. Out of his six professional fights, he won them all.
Over a period of time, he developed shoulder problems and has currently had five surgeries. He said after his first shoulder injury it basically ended his boxing career because it took so long to heal.
Bambino may be out of the game, but the game is still with him.
“To this day where I run in the neighborhood, some of these guys don’t even know my name,” he said, “they see me running and just call me ‘boxer.'”
By Amanda Duganier 8 April 2012
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