Mike Rossman today

This bartender had a tendency to embellish and tell some tall tales. But I know for a fact he is not lying when he said Rossman wasn't too friendly. Some people just prefer to be left alone I guess. To each his own. I think it was a series of incidents that finally got him banned. No biggie cause' there are many establishments in AC and counting the casions probably hundreds so I'm sure he found a new hangout. This guy told me Rossman was outside in the parking lot beating up some dude and the guy hid under his car. Rossman just waited and everytime the guy tried to escape Rossman would hit him. Finally the guy was crying and literally begging him to stop and he let him go. I don't think the bouncers wanted to get involved and with good reason. It may have been some personal beef Rossman had wth the guy. Or maybe it just happened that night. Rossman was an ex world champion boxer and now is bigger and meaner than ever. My bartender pal thinks he's punchy and suffers headaches frequently. I heard he used to stalk his ex-wife in the casino where she worked until she took a restraining order out against him. I saw her working in there couple times. I won't name the casino but she's a very pretty brunette who looks like she's probably italian. I can see why he's upset that she dumped him. I never judge people I've never met but I never heard anything good about Rossman. Another guy who was a former local postal clerk (he retired a few years ago) said Rossman came in to buy some stamps and he waited on him. He said: Hey champ! How are ya! Rossman barely responded. he just sorta grunted a meek hello under his breath. He sounds like a pyscho but the kind with superhuman strength who cold kill a man with his bare hands if he was so inclined.

 

Side note: When Rossman paid for the stamps he had a huge wad of hundreds in his hand and paid for them with one of them. Just thought that might be interesting to know. The guy sure ain't broke I guess.

 

Lopez was going to say that in a live interview? Not a very wise thing to do. It is the first I've heard of it.

 

Oh, he actually did say it. I was pretty young at the time and was unaware of it.

 

Wow...that is really intense.

There are posts on other boxing forums about Rossman that tell similar stories. Supposedly at an induction dinner/ceremony at some New Jersey boxing society a few years ago Rossman behaved belligerently toward guests and other boxers. Rossman is alleged to have been especially aggressive toward Bruce Seldon, who sat near him.

Then of course there was the well known incident in 1990 when Rossman was convicted of threatening someone in order to collect a debt. The newspaper story stated that Rossman told the terrified debtor that he'd "rip your face off." Felony charges and five years weekend jail time ensued for Rossman.

I've also read that people are amazed at how much bigger Rossman appears physically these days. Supposedly it's all muscle, not fat. I find it easy to imagine that he seems like a really intimidating person.

 

My last memory of Mike Rossman was of him getting stopped by Dwight Quawi.(I hoping the stories of his personality problems since he retired are exaggerated).In any case,I'll always remember him for kicking Victor Galindez's ass in their first fight-and I've always hoped the 'Adolph Eichmann'
Nazi crowd in Galindez's Argentina watched "the Jewish bomber" win the title.It's a disgrace that Galindez was able to pull the bs he did to punk out of the original rematch-and Galindez really wasn't doing a whole lot when he won the rematch(Rossman broke his hand-and I think his brother threw a punch at Galindez).And-it was no disgrace for Rossman to lose to the much more experienced Yaqui Lopez.

 

Yaqui Lopez was one of my favorites, but Rossman was too. Rossman beat Galindez, plus he was very young, which got him a lot of attention that some others would not have gottten. The Jewish angle did not help much, but did not hurt. He was actually half Italian, real name was Mike DiPiano, I believe.

Galindez was not fading, He may have underestmated Rossman. In first bout Galindez was not at best, in rematch Glaidez was extremely up for fight, Rossman was not.

I think that era was great for lightheavy's--Lopez, Conteh, Galindez, Eddie Gregory/aka Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, and good contenders like Jesse Burnett, who is a bit forgotten. I rate Mike Quarry just below those guys, he was good, but being Jerry's brother helped a lot. He was tough and deseving contender though.


What I miss most is these fights being on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday, free tv.

 

"I hate Jews, he replied.

The nervous interviewer quickly shuttled him off camera and sent it back to the ringside commentator."

I saw that fight too.

But looking at the words, and knowing Yaqui is Hispanic, what if
he had said "I hate to lose".

Especially after you had just been thru a fight and maybe your
lips wore swollen.

Just a thought.

 

Does anyone know how many stitches Lopez took as a result of the Rossman fight? I know Yaqui was cut over both eyes.

Rossman claimed later that Lopez took 40 stitches in his face. This I doubt because Yaqui was back in the ring one month later, against Ned Hallacy.

But Lopez must have taken some stitches.

 

I remember himfighting Galindez the first time. Galindez seemed a lot bigger and stronger but Rossman was just a perfect technician at that time with great concentration. Too bad he didn't last long after that. I think it was on the Ali-Spinks II undercard. Great fight to watch a master counter-puncher! I hope somebody knows about his current life.

 

Check out the pictures in this link. They feature Saad Muhammad and Mike Rossman together. Apparently they are members of the same roofers' union. You have to scroll down the page in order to find their pictures.

http://www.rooferslocal30.org/newsletter/index.html

 

Kenmore:

Good job in finding this url.....yep, shows Rossman and Saad
side by side.

Can you imagine their company (s) slaps a mechanicsman lien on you for non-payment and those two guys show up to collect.