Rossman of the 1st Galindez fight stops Harding in 7 or 8. Rossman had way too many skills for Harding.
If Mike is at his Textbook best, Then he would win i am sure, but if mike is a few degrees off form Then Jeff could take it, Luke Capauano (?) gave a sleightly off Mike a tough Time, and Jeff could do Better, But Mike on Song would i feel do it by the Numbers, Textbook against an aggressor with little head movement.
I believe in matching these guys, like in any hypothetical matches, when both are at their peaks...and Rossman's peak was of a higher calibre than Harding's, no matter how you slice it.
Tough to call, as neither of them were really all that special. Rossman was fairly limited outside of his big right hand punch, and Harding always looked to me like an overblown clubfighter. I can see Rossman nailing Harding as he comes in and KOing him, but I can also envision Harding outhustling Rossman to a decision or late stoppage.
The high water mark for Rossman was of course his title winning 13th round tko of Victor Galindez, no matter what version of Galindez you think he was at the time...Rossman fought intelligently, gave him angles and was disciplined in punishing Victor around the eyes as well as to the body...he was focused and steady throughout, and had the ref not stopped it when he did, I think Galindez was going down. Rossman's best tops anythying Harding had to offer, even at his best against Andries, who was never as good as ANY version of Galindez.
Actually, Rossman was well below his best for both Capuano fights. The Capuano fights (1980 and 1981) occured when Rossman was at the end of his career, and he showed many signs of slowed reflexes. Rossman fought like hell in both fights, but he was only about 70% of his former self then. Rossman's best period was 1977 to early 1979. After that, for some reason, he seemed stale.
I agree with you that Galindez would have gone down if the referee hadn't suddenly stopped the bout. Galindez was layng backwards on the ropes after being hurt by a big left hook from Rossman. I followed Rossman's career very closely in the '70s and '80s. My guess is that if Rossman fought at or near his best, he would beat Harding.
