Wes Ramey is known in boxing history as the “Uncrowned Champion of the Lightweights” who demonstrated uncanny speed and precision in the ring.
He is also remembered in Grand Rapids as a great boxing coach who stressed his young boxers stay in school.
Ramey, born in Evart Township north of Big Rapids, was ranked as a top-10 lightweight contender for 10 consecutive years in the 1930s, and beat six world champions, too. He was never able to claim a title belt in a fight where the opponent made weight and the belt was on the line.
In 1932, he famously won four 10-round main events and got married within an 18-day period, and in ’33 he fought 25 main events.
His son, Wes Jr., who owns a boxing center in Indianapolis, said his boxing research, including going through his father’s fight dairy, show he fought 259 times, 49 as an amateur and 210 as a professional. He lost 22 times as a pro (188-22 with 11 knockouts) and reversed 11 of those losses in a rematch.
One of Ramey’s most memorable matchups was in Grand Rapids in 1933 when he dominated fellow top lightweight Tony Canzoneri in a 10-round bout using his speed, precision punching and outstanding conditioning.
Boxing writer Bill Farnsworth once wrote of a Ramey win: “(He) came to Fort Hamilton last night and haunted Joey Costa, the New Jersey lad. Ramey was the ghost. He was so elusive for eight of the rounds that Joey couldn’t have struck him with a handful of buckshot."
After retiring from the ring, Ramey trained amateur and professional fighters. One of his star pupils was fellow Hall of Fame member Johnny Butler, who was the first Grand Rapids fighter to win a national Golden Gloves title. Ramey also owned and managed two bars in downtown Grand Rapids.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame posthumously in 2013. He died of heart failure in 1997 at the age of 87.