The Hollywood Godfather Podcast · GRI Entertainment

In the Ring with Legends: Gianni Russo and Ray Mancini Unfiltered

January 28, 2026·56 min·4 clips

Lightweight champion Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini joins to discuss his foundation and unfiltered stories.

1. The Hollywood Godfather Podcast hosts Gianni Russo and Jeannie Raymond interview Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini, former WBA lightweight boxing champion, about his charitable foundation and upcoming events. 2. Gianni Russo is the author of 'Mafia Secrets' and a longtime Las Vegas restaurateur; Jeannie Raymond is the show's co-host; Ray Mancini is a former world champion known for his career in the early 1980s. 3. The episode centers on Mancini's Fight Night for First Responders charity event and broader questions about mental health support for veterans and emergency workers. 4. Mancini's second annual Fight Night is scheduled for Friday at Mr. Anthony's in Youngstown, Ohio, featuring nine world champions including Larry Holmes, Buster Douglas, Michael Spinks, and Pauly Malignaggi — up from five champions in the first year. 5. All tickets to the event are sold out, with approximately 200 more attendees than the inaugural Fight Night, which raised money for veterans. 6. Proceeds go toward the Charles Smith Wellness Center in Boardman, Ohio — a building over 100 years old, named after the family that founded one of Youngstown's first steel mills — which will serve first responders from three surrounding counties. 7. The event format includes a cocktail-hour meet-and-greet with champions, dinner from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., a foundation speech, and then seven amateur bouts plus a 'Battle of the Badge' between a firefighter and a police officer starting at 9 p.m. 8. Mancini argues that first responders are underappreciated and that the wellness center will give them a place to decompress, get therapy, and socialize — filling a gap he says is increasingly important given hostility toward law enforcement. 9. Russo opens the episode by discussing how James Patterson's new book about Marilyn Monroe's final days appears to corroborate Russo's claims in 'Mafia Secrets,' including the assertion that Bobby Kennedy was responsible for her death. 10. Russo says he was at Cal-Neva Lodge with Monroe the last weekend of July before she died and that Frank Costello told him on the Monday after that 'they're going to kill her' — she was dead by Thursday. 11. Mancini shares a personal account of his Navy SEAL nephew who completed seven tours in Iraq and returned 'damaged,' quoting him as saying only 'a lot of carnage' when asked about his experience. 12. Both Mancini and Russo discuss the shift in terminology from 'shell-shocked' to PTSD and how greater openness about mental health is helping veterans who previously had no support network. 13. Russo mentions that the greatest percentage of homeless people in New York City are veterans and attributes this to lack of mental health resources after service. 14. Russo recounts coming home to JFK airport during the Vietnam era and witnessing soldiers being spat on by protesters — a memory that colors his view of current first-responder appreciation events. 15. Mancini says he started his foundation in 2015 with modest charity events like roller derby nights and bowling tournaments before committing to Fight Night despite having only eight weeks to organize the first one. 16. Russo discusses his upcoming book 'Celebrities and Gangsters,' explaining that stars like Bogart and Cagney interacted with actual mobsters because every nightclub and casino was mob-controlled, making mob approval essential to a performance career. 17. The episode is conducted in a relaxed, conversational interview format, with Mancini joining via Zoom after a brief technical delay; the tone is warm and anecdote-driven rather than structured. 18. Energy is casual and personal, with frequent tangents — Jeannie Raymond shares that her son got married over the weekend, and Russo mentions his own events across Connecticut later in the month. 19. Fans of boxing history, veterans' advocacy, or mob-era Hollywood lore will find multiple threads worth following. 20. Listeners who prefer tightly structured interviews or who are uninterested in charity event logistics may find the episode's pacing too loose.

As heard by us

A loose, warm conversation that keeps boxing talk and community service in the same room.

The episode plays like a loose catch-up more than a polished interview, with Ray Mancini moving from boxing memories to Ohio, then into community service.

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Why you'd press play

Want Ray Mancini, fight stories, and a straight-talk detour into veterans and first responders?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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