I just watched his 7th round ko loss to then Dwight Braxton. I never knew too much about Rossman, former WBA champ that won the title from Victor Galindez, but lost it in a rematch to him. How good was he? , He seems to be doing well these days is only 65, which is a bit younger than fighters that competed in his era. Any thoughts on him?
He was a good fighter but really not championship caliber or even top contender. He caught an aging Galindez on an off night. He lost badly to Lopez, Braxton, Ranquillo and of course the Galindez rematch.
The story is that Mike Rossman was fighting on television and Dwight Braxton was watching from prison...and Braxton said to himself “ I should become a boxer because I can kick this guys ass “( like Clubber Lang )
Mike Rossman "The Jewish Bomber" was a very good light heavyweight when that division was amazing. Rossman was very popular on the east coast. Beat Mike Quarry a couple times when he was still a name. Beat Gary Summerhays on the Ali-Shavers undercard in a fight that was seen by roughly 30 million people in the U.S. Beat Lonnie Bennett for another big win. Rossman got a surprise shot at Victor Galindez on the Ali-Spinks II undercard, again, seen by 30 or 40 million people in the U.S. alone and 63,000 people in the New Orleans Superdome, and Rossman beat up Galindez and stopped him for the title. Great win that made him briefly a household name. Back then, there were only two belts per division and not nearly as many divisions. Rossman had one of the belts. What's funny is, after Ali beat Spinks, Ali was contemplating retirement. But the television networks liked to give Ali millions during strategic television ratings periods and Ali considered taking on someone if a TV networks could find someone easy enough. Bob Arum approached Ali with the idea of matching Rossman against Ali and promoting it as a "Muslims vs. the Jews" matchup for the World Heavyweight Championship. This was when Egypt and Israel were going at it pretty hard. And Iran was nearing its overthrow of the Shah and would take American hostages for more than a year. Unbelievably, the TV networks seemed up for it. Rossman was for it, but Ali declined. Ali was finally popular again. He didn't want to get involved in anything like that. So Rossman made a successful defense of his title against the Italian Aldo Traversero and then was scheduled to defend his title in a rematch with Galindez on ABC, but as the bout went on air, Galindez refused to enter the ring and called off the fight with a dispute over the judges. The ABC network was pretty angry. They'd been heavily promoting the fight. Everything was set up and the audience was there. But Galindez wouldn't come into the ring. Normally, this would've been the end of Galindez, but Victor had sway with the WBA and the org rescheduled the fight two months later. This time, Rossman broke his hand during the bout and ended up quitting on his stool. Rossman made a quick comeback against a journeyman Ramon Ranquello, and in a bout voted the Upset of the Year by Boxing Illustrated, Ranquello stopped Rossman. And Rossman's roughly three-year run as one of the most watched Light Heavyweights came to a quick end. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
I actually like watching him. Not remotely flashy, but steady and textbook. Not the most talented guy, though.
Rossman was 23 years old when he won the title. Turned pro at 18. Retired at 28. He was what I’d classify as a ‘world-class club fighter.’ Nothing exceptional skill-wise or athletically, but he could bang a bit and he fought with ferocity. Unfortunately, Rossman also fought constantly with his father, who was his manager/trainer, and I think it’s fair to say he lost his passion for the sport due to that relationship more than anything. He fired his father after the Ronquillo loss (or somewhere around that time) and fought on, putting together a string of wins before losing to Qawi, but I don’t think his heart was in it. Pretty remarkable run for a 10-year career. He beat the tar out of Galindez in the first fight. I’d have liked to have seen him against Matthew Saad Muhammad, James Scott and Marvin Johnson. I don’t think he wins any of those but at his peak he’d have given them a scrap.
Mike Rossman was a very talented light heavyweight in his own right. On Sept 15 1978,he pulled off one of boxing's greatest upsets when he dethroned long reigning WBA Light Heavyweight champion Victor Galindez of Argentina. referee Carlos Berrocal rescued the severely bleeding Galindez from further damage in round 13. There was talk of Rossman unifying the Light heavyweight Title against WBC Champion Mate Parlov, who had just defended his title against former champion John Conteh, by a hotly disputed decision in Yugoslavia. Or perhaps a match against John Conteh. Rossman made just one defense of his newly won title against Aldo Travesaro on Dec 5 1978, stopping Aldo in the 6th round. Many believed he would repeat his victory over Galindez in the April 14 1979 rematch. Victor was coached into fighting a different type of fight. Also Victor had the aid of a substance called plastic skin, that is used to protect the scar tissue around the eyebrows of Galindez, which referee Stanley Cristodoulo constantly tried to wipe off. Victor regained his title by TKO 9, Rossman claimed a broken hand prevented him from continuing. If Mike had retained chances are that he would be facing Marvin Pops Johnson on Nov 30 1979, instead of Galindez.
He showed good poise, power, boxing ability, and how to adhere to a good fight plan in the first Galindez fight. Old Galindez or no, Rossman still did all the right things. Haven't seen the rematch.
I never saw blood squirt out so dark and so red immediately out of someone's head so quickly FROM A PUNCH like it did Rossman hit Aldo at the end of their fight. It's like he scalped him.
Know a guy that knew him. Asked the guy- who was very old- about Rossman and he told me he was a jerk and liked to drink and party. Told me Rossman would also threaten people from time to time. If my memory serves me correct the guy telling me the story of Rossman was with the Union- some type of construction and Rossman I believe worked on construction sights as he was coming up and when he retired.
The older man who told me the story was from Philly I believe and he did say Rossman would threaten coworkers and such and would go around full of himself. He also met Frazier and had nothing but good things to say only that I guess Joe liked to drink but was a very down to earth guy.
