CHESTER — A boxing legend doesn’t think fighters are as tough these days as they were during his career. Nor does he like the distance championship bouts are.

“The bigger name fighters nowadays get paid a helluva lot more for doing a helluva lot less,” International Boxing Hall of Famer Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini said while attending the 9-card Feast of Fists boxing card Wednesday night at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort. “Ten or 12 rounds is not a championship distance. A true championship distance is 15 rounds.”

Mancini said the change came about as the result of a TV decision some years ago after a fight he had with South Korean Duk Koo Kim.

It was Nov. 13, 1982. Mancini was paired with Kim in a nationally televised fight at Caesars Palace for Mancini’s World Boxing Association lightweight title. The 27-year-old Kim reportedly had trouble making the 135-pound weight allowance. Moments after the 21-year-old Mancini was declared the winner by TKO in the 14th round, his opponent collapsed and went into a coma as the result of a subdural hematoma on his brain. He died four days later.

As a result, the WBC shortened its championship fights to 12 rounds. The WBA and WBO did the same six years later, while the International Boxing Federation followed suit in 1989.

“It wasn’t a medical decision. It was a TV decision and those people will tell you that,” Mancini stressed. “Some of the guys now can’t even go 12 rounds. They’re never in shape like they should be. Not like we were.”

However, the 56-year-old Mancini does think events like Feast of Fists is not only good for the local fighters, but for fighters all around the country.

“Local fights is what the sport is all about anymore,” he noted. “You’ve got to have aggressive marketing and venues like this to build the guys up. You’ve also got to build a fan base and this is a way to do it.”

He said there is only one problem with local fights.

“There aren’t many trainers around like there used to be. I’m looking at some of these guys tonight and they don’t even have trainers. Fighters can only do what they are taught. Some of these trainers I’ve seen have no clue as to what is going on in the ring,” he said. “A lot of these guys are amateur trainers that are trying to move up, as well, but the pro game is a hurt game and these guys need to learn that.”

Mancini was the son of a top-ranked contender, Lenny, in the 1940s. It was at his father’s urging that got Ray involved at a very young age.

“Boom Boom,” which was his father’s nickname, took the sport by storm. After winning his pro debut by first-round knockout in 1979, Mancini went on to win his first 20 bouts. Included in that streak was the North American Boxing Federation’s lightweight title in which Jorge Morales retired after the ninth round on May 16, 1981. He defended that belt just over two months later when he scored a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Jose Luis Ramirez.

It was a little less than three months later when Mancini suffered his first professional setback. He dropped a technical knockout decision to Alexis Arguello for the World Boxing Council’s lightweight title on Oct. 3, 1981, inside Bally’s Park Place in Atlantic City, N.J.

“He was one of the greatest fighters of all time,” Mancini said without hesitation. “He was a three-time World champion and one of the top 5 Latino fighters of all time. He was by far my toughest opponent and toughest fight.”

The Youngstown native bounced back to capture his next two outings, including a second, and final, successful defense of his NABF lightweight belt. He stopped Julio Valdez in the 10th round to earn another world title shot..

That came on May 8, 1982, when he faced Arturo Frias, who held the World Boxing Association’s lightweight crown, at The Alladin in Las Vegas. After taking a vicious left hook and an ensuing combination that left him bleeding from the eye early in the first round, Mancini came back and sent Frias to the canvas. Frias got up and Mancini didn’t waste any time in ending the bout with a flurry of punches.

“That was an outstanding fight,” Mancini recalled. “He (Frias) was a great competitor, but I wanted it more that night.”

Ironically, after retaining his title belt against Orlando Romero and Bobby Chacon, Mancini woukd lose his last four career fights.

He lost the belt to Livingstone Bramble in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1984. Mancini needed 71 stitches around one eye after the bout. In a rematch, Bramble prevailed by one point on each of the three judge’s cards. He then lost to Hector “Macho” Camacho in a split decision and by TKO to Greg Haugen, which turned out to be his final fight.

Mancini officially retired in 1992 with a record of 29-5, with 23 wins by KO.

AS FOR Feast of Fists, the red corner was the place to be as fighters from that part of the ring prevailed in every bout.

East Liverpool’s Joey “The Hitman” Holt won by unanimous decision in the 4-round light-heavyweight main event over Tahlik Taylor of Greensboro, N.C. Holt is now a spotless 9-0.

Weirton’s Justin “The Hawk” Steave won by majority decision over James “Thunder” Robinson of York, Pa., in a 4-round middleweight bout. Steave is now 7-1.

Other professional winners were Dustin Arnold of Coral Springs, Fla.; Mike “The Maverick” Conway of Pittsburgh; Cleveland’s Montana “Too Pretty” Love; and Pittsburgh’s Matt “Sweet Child” Conway, also of Pittsburgh, who improved to 11-0.

On the amateur side, Wintersville’s Daniel Hague won by TKO over Bellaire’s Richie Loew; Wintersville’s Andrew O’Dell stopped Weirton’s Steve “Steve-O” Roberts; and Wellsburg’s Kyle Cunningham overcame a first-round knockdown and a 100-pound weight differential in earning a decision over Parkersburg’s Dharton Wilson.

IT WAS announced that Revolution Championship Boxing will hold another card on Saturday, Jan. 20 inside the former W.Va. State Penitentiary in Moundsville. The main event will feature local standout Travis “The Terror” Clark. The 14-fight card will include amateur boxing, professional boxing and mixed martial arts, according to Promoter Jim Frio. More news will be announced in the near future. Stay tuned.