Life Is Good These Days for Boom Boom Mancini

The only regret Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini has about retiring from boxing is that he waited so long.

“If I knew things would have been this good, I would have retired a year ago,” said Mancini, the former World Boxing Assn. lightweight champion who retired in September at age 24.

Since then, Mancini says he’s done “a little acting and a lot of acting up.”

Among the acting he’s done are roles in the television series “Who’s the Boss” and “Amazing Stories.”

In the “Who’s the Boss” episode which will appear Nov. 26, Mancini plays a boyhood friend of Tony Danza’s from Brooklyn. In Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories,” which will air Dec. 1, Mancini plays a soldier called “Irish.”

“They wanted an ethnic-looking guy, muscular, but not a moose,” Mancini said of his role in “Amazing Stories.” “They said a Charles Bronson-type, I said ‘You mean, strong but silent.’ Now that was acting. I’d be giggling before scenes, then had to be serious when we started.”

Mancini is also coming out with an exercise video (he says it’s the first geared primarily toward men) and has a motivational video out called “Straight From the Heart.”

When he’s not acting, Mancini’s talking. He makes motivational speeches to company employees and he’ll be the commencement speaker at Merrywood College in Scranton, Pa., next May.

He also works as a boxing commentator once a month.

“After the first of the year, I’ll relax,” Mancini said. “I’ll do some of the things I always wanted to do when I was fighting, like go to Europe. Life’s beautiful.”

Mancini said he never considered acting until he was approached about doing some roles after he became champion.

“I didn’t go to acting, acting came to me,” he said. “It’s a whole new challenge for me.”

Mancini hasn’t received any formal acting training, going for on-the-job experience in the roles he’s taken. He also talks acting frequently with the actor Mickey Rourke, a close friend who starred in “Diner,” “The Pope of Greenwich Village” and “Year of the Dragon.”

Rouke and Mancini became good friends after the former champion moved from Youngstown, Ohio, to Los Angeles. “I pick his brains about acting, he’s one of the best young actors in the world,” Mancini said of Rourke.