Livingstone Bramble

Ras-I Alujah Bramble (born Livingstone Bramble; September 3, 1960 – March 22, 2025) was a professional boxer who was once the WBA Lightweight boxing champion of the world. Bramble was raised on Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He became the first world champion from Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Boxing career

Template:Unsourced section Bramble began boxing professionally on October 16, 1980, knocking out Jesus Serrano in round one. He would outpoint Serrano in a rematch. In his fourth fight, Bramble faced the more experienced, fringe contender Jorge Nina, winning by a disqualification in the second round.

On June 4, 1981, Bramble beat Ken Bogner by a knockout in seven rounds. But later that year, on August 31, he lost for the first time, in an eight-round decision to Anthony Fletcher. After that loss, he built a streak of thirteen wins in a row, including wins over former world title challengers James Busceme and Gaetan Hart, as well as top ten ranked fighters like Jerome Artis and Rafael Williams.

Bramble was given a shot at a world title when the WBA pitted him and Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini for the Lightweight title on June 1, 1984. Bramble entered the ring sporting a record of 20 wins and only one loss, with thirteen knockouts, but was a heavy underdog to Mancini, who had recently gone fourteen rounds with the legendary Alexis Argüello, and he was also coming off a successful title defense on January 14, a third-round knockout of two time world champion Bobby Chacon. Furthermore, talks about a super-fight between Mancini and IBF world Jr. Welterweight champion Aaron Pryor were already under way. Nevertheless, Bramble cut Mancini in round one and went on to become the WBA world Lightweight champion by a fourteenth-round knockout in Buffalo, New York. After this, The Ring published a cover of Bramble, WBA Jr. Lightweight world champion Rocky Lockridge, and their trainer Lou Duva. The cover read: The championship season.

After defeating Edwin Curet by a ten-round decision in a non-title bout, Bramble met Mancini in a rematch on February 16, 1985. In what marked the debut of the Compubox scoring system, Bramble defeated Mancini by an extremely close but unanimous fifteen-round decision to retain his world title at Reno, Nevada, in front of an HBO Boxing audience.

After Héctor Camacho defeated José Luis Ramírez to claim the WBC title on August 10 of that year, there was widespread talk about a series of fights between Bramble, Camacho and IBF world Lightweight champion Jimmy Paul, to see who would become the unified world champion.

Exactly one year after defeating Mancini for the second time, Bramble defeated the WBA's number one challenger, Tyrone Crawley, by a knockout in round thirteen.

Bramble's next defense was supposed to be a preparation fight for him to meet Camacho. He and Camacho each defended their crowns on September 26, in what was nicknamed The Preamble to Bramble. However, in what many saw as a surprise, Bramble lost his title to former WBC lightweight champion Edwin Rosario, who knocked him out in two rounds at Miami.

After this loss, Bramble never regained his status as a top lightweight. He fought on, and met some future or former world champions such as Freddie Pendleton, Charles Murray, James "Buddy" McGirt, Roger Mayweather, Rafael Ruelas and Kostya Tszyu, as well as world title challengers like Wilfredo Rivera, Oba Carr and Darryl Tyson. However, he was on the losing end of most of these fights.

During the 1990s Bramble went through several name changes, often fighting under the names of Ras-I-Bramble or Abuja Bramble.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
69	Template:No2Loss	Template:Nowrap	Armando Robles	UD	6 (6)	2003-06-27	Template:Small
68	Template:No2Loss	40–25–3	Dumont Welliver	UD	6 (6)	2003-02-27	Template:Small
67	Template:No2Loss	40–24–3	Jeffrey Resto	RTD	3 (8)	2002-07-26	Template:Small
66	Template:No2Loss	40–23–3	Wayne Martell	UD	10 (10)	2002-06-16	Template:Small
65	Template:No2Loss	40–22–3	Juan Carlos Rodríguez	UD	10 (10)	2002-03-29	Template:Small
64	Template:No2Loss	40–21–3	Frank Houghtaling	SD	8 (8)	1999-11-19	Template:Small
63	Template:Yes2Win	40–20–3	Benji Singleton	PTS	8 (8)	1999-10-02	Template:Small
62	Template:Yes2Win	39–20–3	Paul Nave	TKO	2 (10)	1999-05-21	Template:Small
61	Template:No2Loss	38–20–3	Wilfredo Rivera	KO	3 (10)	1997-03-22	Template:Small
60	Template:No2Loss	38–19–3	Charles Murray	UD	10 (10)	1997-03-01	Template:Small
59	Template:No2Loss	38–18–3	Rafael Ruelas	UD	10 (10)	1996-08-23	Template:Small
58	Template:Yes2Win	38–17–3	Tony Bennett	KO	1 (10)	1996-05-04	Template:Small
57	Template:No2Loss	37–17–3	Shannan Taylor	KO	1 (10)	1995-11-27	Template:Small
56	Template:No2Loss	37–16–3	Søren Søndergaard	UD	10 (10)	1995-06-09	Template:Small
55	Template:No2Loss	37–15–3	Francisco Cuesta	UD	12 (12)	1995-04-30	Template:Small	Template:Small
54	Template:No2Loss	37–14–3	Louis Veader	UD	10 (10)	1994-10-26	Template:Small
53	Template:Yes2Win	37–13–3	Bernard Matthews	UD	10 (10)	1994-09-23	Template:Small
52	Template:No2Loss	36–13–3	Buddy McGirt	UD	12 (12)	1994-04-09	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	36–12–3	Mike Johnson	UD	10 (10)	1994-01-16	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	35–12–3	Allen Osborne	TKO	5 (10)	1993-10-08	Template:Small
49	Template:No2Loss	34–12–3	Kostya Tszyu	UD	10 (10)	1993-08-23	Template:Small
48	Template:DrawDraw	34–11–3	Darryl Tyson	SD	10 (10)	1993-07-02	Template:Small
47	Template:No2Loss	34–11–2	Roger Mayweather	DQ	5 (10)	1993-03-14	Template:Small
46	Template:No2Loss	34–10–2	Rodney Moore	UD	10 (10)	1993-01-26	Template:Small
45	Template:No2Loss	34–9–2	Ricky Meyers	UD	10 (10)	1992-10-21	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	34–8–2	Juan Lebron	TKO	3 (?)	1992-08-22	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	33–8–2	Anthony Stephens	SD	10 (10)	1992-05-15	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	32–8–2	Derrick McGuire	TKO	5 (10)	1992-03-21	Template:Small
41	Template:No2Loss	31–8–2	Charles Murray	UD	10 (10)	Dec 13, 1991	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	31–7–2	Oba Carr	SD	10 (10)	1991-10-08	Template:Small
39	Template:No2Loss	31–6–2	Carl Griffith	SD	10 (10)	1991-08-30	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	31–5–2	Roger Brown	KO	7 (10)	1991-06-14	Template:Small
37	Template:No2Loss	30–5–2	Tony Martin	UD	10 (10)	1990-12-13	Template:Small
36	Template:No2Loss	30–4–2	Santos Cardona	MD	12 (12)	1990-02-18	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	30–3–2	Kenny Vice	DQ	6 (12)	1989-11-28	Template:Small	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	29–3–2	Harold Brazier	TKO	2 (12)	1989-08-08	Template:Small	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	28–3–2	Juan Minaya	TKO	2 (?)	1989-03-25	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	27–3–2	Bryant Paden	UD	10 (10)	1989-02-21	Template:Small
31	Template:No2Loss	26–3–2	Freddie Pendleton	TKO	10 (12)	1988-07-10	Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	26–2–2	Edwin Curet	TKO	8 (10)	1988-03-30	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	25–2–2	John Kalbhenn	TKO	5 (10)	1987-06-15	Template:Small
28	Template:DrawDraw	24–2–2	Freddie Pendleton	MD	10 (10)	1987-04-03	Template:Small
27	Template:No2Loss	24–2–1	Edwin Rosario	KO	2 (15)	1986-09-26	Template:Small	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	24–1–1	Tyrone Crawley	TKO	13 (15)	1986-02-16	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	23–1–1	Ray Mancini	UD	15 (15)	1985-02-16	Template:Small	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	22–1–1	Edwin Curet	UD	10 (10)	1984-10-24	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	21–1–1	Ray Mancini	TKO	14 (15)	1984-06-01	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–1–1	Rafael Williams	UD	12 (12)	1984-01-22	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	19–1–1	Lorenzo Guzman	KO	2 (10)	1983-12-14	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	18–1–1	Tom Crowley	TKO	5 (10)	1983-11-23	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	17–1–1	Juan Hernandez	TKO	5 (10)	1983-09-13	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	16–1–1	Gaétan Hart	UD	10 (10)	1983-04-26	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	15–1–1	Teddy Hatfield	TKO	7 (10)	1983-02-23	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	14–1–1	Romero Sandoval	TKO	9 (10)	1983-01-22	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	13–1–1	James Busceme	MD	10 (10)	1982-10-17	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	12–1–1	Miguel Meza	TKO	4 (10)	1982-08-22	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	11–1–1	Manuel Madera	TKO	4 (8)	1982-07-03	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	10–1–1	Emilio Diaz	TKO	1 (10)	1982-04-19	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	9–1–1	Jerome Artis	UD	10 (10)	1982-01-17	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	8–1–1	Alejandro Arias	UD	8 (8)	1981-10-08	Template:Small
9	Template:No2Loss	7–1–1	Anthony Fletcher	MD	8 (8)	1981-08-31	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	7–0–1	Quadil Hart	TKO	1 (4)	1981-08-20	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	6–0–1	Kenny Bogner	TKO	7 (8)	1981-06-04	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	5–0–1	Johnny Bird	TKO	4 (4)	1981-05-21	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	4–0–1	Andre Cain	TKO	2 (6)	1981-04-16	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	3–0–1	Jorge Nina	DQ	2 (6)	1981-03-18	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	2–0–1	Jesus Serrano	UD	6 (6)	1981-01-09	Template:Small
2	Template:DrawDraw	1–0–1	Bruce Williams	PTS	4 (4)	1980-12-04	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Jesus Serrano	TKO	1 (4)	1980-10-16	Template:Small

Personal life

When Bramble became a world champion, rumors of him practicing witchcraft became widespread.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He did not deny these rumours. Bramble did enjoy walking around with his pet snake.<ref>Grasso, John. Historical Dictionary of Boxing. p. 67.</ref><ref>Pacheco, Ferdie. (2005). Blood in My Coffee: The Life of the Fight Doctor. Sports Publishing. p. 214. Template:ISBN</ref> He used to walk into the boxing ring with one on his neck, and he was pictured, again on the cover of Ring Magazine, with his snake. In 1985, Bramble stated that he hated chickens and he strangled them. It was also reported that Bramble had skinned a dead cat and put it on his living room wall.<ref name="washingtonpost">"For Boxer Bramble, Easy Lies the crown". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 31 March 2022.</ref> During this time he had a boa constrictor and a ferret named spider.<ref name="washingtonpost"/> He also had a dog named snake.<ref>"Rosario Wins Title, Rocks Division : Bramble Flattened in 2nd; Camacho Takes Decision, Hike". latimes.com. Retrieved 31 March 2022.</ref> He described himself as "the only Rasta prizefighter there is".<ref name="washingtonpost"/>

Bramble was a pescetarian and his diet was described as "primarily of fish, spaghetti, fungi, pumpkin and coconuts".<ref name="washingtonpost"/><ref>Bramble Fights the Good Fight, In and Out of Ring". nytimes.com. Retrieved 31 March 2022.</ref><ref>McClintock, Alex. (2019). "Think boxers need meat to succeed? Vegan fighter Bryant Jennings disagrees...". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2022.</ref>

An avid marathon runner, Bramble competed each year at the International Boxing Hall of Fame's celebrity marathon. He was one of the most sought after autograph signers there every year. Bramble resided in Las Vegas. He is the subject of a full biography by boxing journalist Brian D'Ambrosio. The book is titled Rasta in the Ring: The Life of Rastafarian Boxer Livingstone Bramble and was published in 2016. The book dissects and explains the life and beliefs of the Rastafarian boxer.<ref>D'Ambrosio, Brian. (2016). Rasta in the Ring: The Life of Rastafarian Boxer Livingstone Bramble. Firefly Books.</ref>

Death

Bramble died on March 22, 2025, at the age of 64.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• List of world lightweight boxing champions

External links

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