The Mike Rossman/Victor Galindez Fights

Research the Rossman vs Galindez "non-fight". After Fight #1, a Rossman v Galindez rematch was scheduled (maybe it was Las Vegas), and made it all the way to near "prefight introductions", when Galindez, as challenger, decided he didn't like either the assigned referee (or judge), and refused to come out of the dressing room, and left Rossman standing in the Ring by himself. Rossman look like he was in great shape, and was prepared to give Galindez another beating. The WBA, who basically sanctioned the fight, allowed Galindez to walk away from the fight, then established Galindez as Rossman's mandatory defense....which Rossman had to do in the scheduled "third fight" which Rossman lost to Galindez. My opinion is that Rossman really didn't care about the results of the actual Rossman v Galindez rematch, because he knew he was fighting both the WBA & Galindez.

 

Exactly. I watched the situation trans-fold before my very eyes on the aborted fight telecast. Rossman, The Jewish Bomber, had a big fan following, and had been written up in a long Playboy Magazine article after his victories over Mike Quarry, before he got a shot at the title.


"In February 1979, Rossman participated in what is sometimes considered one of professional boxing's most embarrassing moments (at least in modern times). At a scheduled rematch between Rossman and Galindez, Rossman was left waiting in the ring as Galindez failed to appear: the challenger's camp was disputing the neutrality of the judges scoring the fight. After immediate attempts to remedy the situation failed, the fight was suspended, and rescheduled two months later in April 1979."

With Rossman perhaps still fretting about boxing politics, Galindez was focused on regaining the title, and was able to defeat Rossman. Rossman apparently broke his right hand during the bout, severely limiting his boxing ability. The pain became worse over the course of the fight, and unbearable to a point where Rossman told his father-manager after the ninth round that he could not continue. Galindez was thus able to reclaim the championship."

 

Victor Galindez was protected by the corrupt WBA.

After getting stopped in the first fight, he got an immediate rematch.

As pointed out above, he refused to fight and pulled out on the day of the re-match, RIGHT BEFORE THE FIGT WAS TO TAKE PLACE.

Instead of being suspended, the WBA allowed Galindez time to get in better shape, and the rematch finally happened.

The WBA treated Rossman as if he was not the champion.

It was classic WBA corruption at its finest.

For other classical WBA corruption see Juan Coggi (also from Argentina) v. Eder Gonzalez I

 

It was a complete travesty

The WBA and WBC were blatantly corrupt latin-based organizations.

They rated obscure Latin fighters who had never fought outside their home countries.

The had "house" judges and referees. See the scoring of some of Eusebio Pedroza's fights i.e. Lockridge, LaPorte.

Then, the IBF was formed in response to this corruption.

All the IBF accomplished was becoming a corrupt US based organization.

It's President Bob Lee was convicted for white collar offenses.

 

Wow....thats crazy. Well, it IS boxing we're talking about so crazy but not shocking. Imagine if at the Super Bowl an NFL team refused to come out of the locker rooms because they didn't like the ref or the cheerleaders?

 

Well, I mean it's all inter-related.

If the rematch took place as scheduled, it may have been a different result.

 

Also worth mentioning to further illustrate how corrupt the WBA was:

Rossman didn't even deserve his title shot against Galindez in the first place.

He was bombed out by hard-luck Yaqui Lopez earlier in '78 but it was Rossman who got the title shot.

In October '79, the WBA strips James Scott of his ranking, saying it can't have a convict fighting for it's title.

Then, why did it rate Scott in the first place, knowing he was a convict?

Why wait until he's the #1 contender before stripping him of his ranking?

Could their motive have been to protect the man who held the WBA LHW title at the time it stripped Scott - the aforementioned Victor Galindez?

Scott, to his credit still went on to defeat Yaqui Lopez.

Fortunately, Marvin Johnson stepped in and emphatically ended Galindez's second reign.

Anyway, I guess the point is Boxing is very political.

Yaqui Lopez was obviously much better than Mike Rossman, but never won a world title.

Insert him instead of Rossman and he likely beats Galindez that night.

Mike Rossman was a middling contender who got a shot he didn't deserve and, to his credit, made the most of it.

James Scott deserved a World Title shot but never got it.

Victor Galindez was a champion but his tight connections with the WBA helped him through several controversies during his reign and allowed him to get an immediate rematch upon losing the title and even let him decide when the rematch would happen.

 

Never knew this had happened, how can a fighter ever get away with that?

 

BOXING POLITICS/CORRUPTION

 

I always enjoy your posts Saad54, especially when it come to the lightheavyweights of the 70's and 80's. I learn something new everytime.