Why didn't Scott get to fight Mike Rossman

He was in prison. The novelty of a guy in prison fighting on television, against top guys, sold well and got good ratings. No way in hell would anybody ever take the chance of sending a world title to the pen

 

Rossman seemed potentially marketable. Of course things didn't last long though. But there was no way a black convict was going to get a shot against a white champion who he had a very good chance of beating.

 

But of course, if it had been a black champion there would’ve been no problem at all!

 

Put race aside. It was like greynotsoold said, it was a novelty. The networks saw this as a ratings gimmick, but no organization was going to sanction a title fight behind bars. The novelty wore off with subsequent losses to Jerry Martin and Dwight Braxton (Qawi).

 

The WBA favorite son Galindez got the shot, even though he had been comprehensively destroyed in New Orleans a few months earlier by Rossman. Rossman hadn't even deserved a shot as he had been kod by Yaqui Lopez. Galindez failed to show up for the rematch, but the WBA didn't penalize him. When Galindez was ready, he got the WBA title back then the WBA dropped Scott from the ratings, probably to protect Galindez. Marvin Johnson got a shot at Galindez, even though he had been destroyed by Matthew Saad Muhammad 6 months earlier. Johnson destroyed Galindez, proving the largesse of the WBA couldn't protect the fading Galindez. Of course, the first Rossma fight had already shown that.

Marvin Johnson brought the title back to the US, where almost all if the legitimate top 10 resided.

James Scott was the victim of WBA politics, just as Rossman would be with the fiasco of Galindez not showing up for their rematch.

I wouldn't put any of the blame on Rossman for what happened to Scott.

And it's no wonder Matthew Saad Muhammad was seen as the true Champion after the WBA mess described above.