Educate me on Victor Galindez

Oh, it just means that I 100% agree with you!

 

Galindez fights were a staple of network television in the late 70s. His matches always seemed to be competitive, he was a total bad-*ss, but he also squeaked by a lot.

His loss to Rossman was a big upset - not only that Rossman won but that he won by stoppage. There was a huge controversy before their rematch.

I remember it was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon. ABC Wide World of Sports was televising. When the show came on, Mike Rossman was in the ring but Victor Galindez wouldn't come out to fight. He didn't agree with the officials assigned (either the ref or the judges, I don't recall). Back then, they didn't announce officials until right before a fight - to prevent anyone from bribing them. It was a complete disaster. The commission wouldn't change the officials. Galindez wouldn't leave his room and then left the arena entirely. Rossman was standing in the ring ready to defend. Fans are there who bought tickets. ABC was televising live. And they had to cancel the show. Howard Cosell, the annoucer, was outraged.

Even when Galindez didn't fight, or appear on camera, he put on a show.

Then there was talk that Muhammad Ali would defend his title (which he regained from Spinks the night Rossman beat Galindez) against Rossman. Bob Arum wanted to promote it from the Muslim vs. the Jew angle, because tensions were high in the Middle East at the time. But Ali didn't want to do it.

Then Galindez and Rossman agreed to fight again - and the officials were approved ahead of time. ABC agreed to televise again. That just kind of shows you how respected Galindez was. Because if many fighters simply refused to fight - as Galindez had done - the boxing organization and the network wouldn't have invited them back.

In that fight, Galindez fought better and Rossman quit on his stool with a hand injury. After one of the rounds, Rossman's brother ran into the ring and he and Galindez started hitting each other. When the fight was stopped, Galindez just started screaming at them. He hated the Rossmans.

It was a wild time.

His death was also pretty shocking. I remember watching him on CBS against Jesse Burnett. It was one of the first cruiserweight fights shown on television in the U.S. Galindez was a natural light heavyweight,had been in a lot of wars, and lost a pretty convincing decision.

After he lost to Burnett, he decided to get into racing. He thought it would provide him with the same thrills as boxing but would be safer - since he wouldn't be getting punched in the head.

He entered his first race in Argentina. He was actually just a passenger in the vehicle. Just a few minutes into the race, the car Galindez was in had engine trouble and stopped. Galindez and the driver got out and started walking toward the pit area as the rest of the cars came around the turn ... one car in the race rear-ended another ... and the car spinning out of control hit Galindez and the driver. Both were killed.

Boxing magazines at the time always came out a few months after an event. And it seemed like the magazine discussing Galindez's last fight with Burnett came out around the same time as it was announced on the news he was dead.

It was a pretty abrupt end for a guy who seemed to be fighting every time you turned on the television back then.

He was a very good champ. Very good fighter. He just loved the action.

 

Strong fighter, hard punch and very crafty for a fighter who was perceived as a plodder. The era was deep in the LH division and there were some wars. Ahumada ( I seen him many times) was an excellent fighter but Victor bested him

 

Lester, obviously you've forgotten to take your meds today.

 

So many posters only see the faded, war-torn Victor in the late 70's and only see John vs. Saad and beyond. IMO their 'non-s****' was the beginning of the fractured titles. The excellent LH's ran into both of them after their prime. 1974: Conteh wins Foster's vacated title with a tough win over Ahumada (in London) WBC. Victor leaves 'Stinger Hutchins' on his stool beaten badly (at Luna Park) WBA.
My late friend and I used to spend hours talking about a mid-75 s**** between these two with varying opinions on the outcome.
Conteh had all the tools, Victor was the prototype of counterpunching.
Back to thread, if Victor had been prime a bit later (late 70's) he would have given anyone pure hell. Tho, despite his counterpunching abilties, I've often wondered why he laid back so much (75-77) Kates, Fourie, Lopez, Gregory (as a Gregory 'nuthugger') I would have always taken Eddie against him (read: same weirdness as Victor)
The 70's LH's were awesome! How about a pvp Ahumada-Yaqui? I'd surely want a ringside seat with a beer and a dog for that one!

 

Galindez got away with that travesty of pulling out of Rossman II at the last second only because he was a favorite son of the WBA. Probably the only other fighter I can envision getting away with that is maybe Juan Coggi (who can forget Eder Gonzalez-Coggi I) . They probably told ABC they would boycott ABC if they didn't agree to televise the rescheduled fight.

 

Ew