Ramiro Bolanos: Ecuadorian WBC Title Challenger
Ramiro “Clay” Bolaños was an Ecuadorian professional boxer whose career included a WBC super-featherweight championship challenge against Kuniaki Shibata in Japan. His recorded professional activity ran from December 1967 through June 1979. His opponents included international champions and contenders, with appearances in Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, Japan, the United States and Britain.
Career and championship record
Bolaños built his early record largely in Quito and Guayaquil. His recorded opponents during that period included fellow Ecuadorians Eugenio Espinoza and Jaime Valladares. He later traveled to Panama to face Ernesto Marcel and to Mexico for contests against opponents including Clemente Sanchez and Cornelio Vega.
His world-title challenge took place at Tokyo’s Nihon University Auditorium on October 3, 1974. Shibata retained the WBC super-featherweight championship by stopping Bolaños in the fifteenth and final round. The contest placed the Ecuadorian in a major title fight at the 130-pound limit, but did not produce a championship reign.
Bolaños continued competing after the Shibata defeat. He defeated former champion Ricardo Arredondo on points in Guayaquil in November 1975 and later beat him again by unanimous decision at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in March 1977. His American schedule also included losses to Rudy Hernandez and Randy Shields.
On October 26, 1976, Dave “Boy” Green stopped Bolaños in the fourth round at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Green was then an unbeaten British contender developing toward European and world-title competition. The result was part of Bolaños’s international schedule beyond his earlier super-featherweight championship challenge.
In 1978, Bolaños met former world champion Alfonso “Peppermint” Frazer twice in Quito. Their April contest ended in a draw; Frazer won the June rematch by stoppage. Bolaños’s later recorded appearances included victories over Justiniano Vidal, José Angel Tatti and Julio Medina in Ecuador.
The Medina contest in Ibarra in June 1979 is his last listed professional bout. His recorded career total is 57 wins, 15 losses and three draws. In 2015, Ecuadorian boxing coverage included him among former fighters scheduled to be honored at an event in Sangolquí, alongside Daniel Guanín, Ángel Sánchez and Eugenio Espinoza.
Sources
Additional sources: https://boxerlist.com/en/boxer/ramiro-bolanos/19222; https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/WBC_Super_Featherweight_Title_Fights; https://boxeomundial.com/ex-figuras-del-boxeo-ecuatoriano-seran-homenajeados/; https://www.myboxingfans.com/dave-boy-green/
Additional sources: https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Ramiro_Bolanos; https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Kuniaki_Shibata_vs._Ramiro_Bolanos; https://www.sportenote.com/vedi_dettagli.asp?id=52636
