Yaqui Lopez vs Mike Rossman

Yaqui Lopez was a very good fighter. Got lost in the pack somewhat but always gave a sterling effort against top opposition.

Terrible refereeing. Rossman was out of there and got dealt a horrible beating.

 

Never forget how Yaqui was interviewed after the fight and openly said more than once he was happy to beat Rossman because he was "a loud mouth Jew Boy." No joke.

 

Not sure if that's exactly the quote, hg, (thought he said,"I hate Jews) but I heard it too. Said it TWICE. The interviewer thought he'd misunderstood him the first time. He quickly switched back to the broadcast team at ringside.

 

Wow. Never knew that.

 

Probably my favorite performance by Lopez. Anyone trying to see what an educated boxer-puncher he truly was in his prime needs to check out this fight. Awesome combination puncher. Just goes to show how stacked the division was that he never nabbed a title.

 

And it looked in the torrid eighth round of his rematch with Saad Muhammad as if Yaqui would finally become a champion. It wasn't lack of heart or fire which kept him from reaching the top, just that he was faced with too many ridiculously great titleholders. (Nobody ever counted ten over his body.) If he had anything left at all after that eighth round seesaw (where momentum shifted thrice, the final time in his favor), he would have made it. (And Gil Clancy rightly observed over and over, that if Lopez could just come on at all after that, Saad Muhammad had virtually nothing left in the way of resistance. But Matt was the monster warrior of his generation.)

 

Lopez's best performance, without question. His handspeed and combination punching were the best I've ever seen them in this fight. Rossman was actually considered "the prospect" coming into this fight, and his people thought he had a great shot of winning it as he was a big right hand puncher and Lopez could be hit. As it turned out, the right hand failed to make an impression, and Rossman didn't really have much outside of that punch. The fight also showed that Rossman wasn't really a genuine full fledged LHW; he was basically just a big MW (he would've been ideal for 168 today). This fight is the reason that no one on the planet (including myself) thought Rossman belonged anywhere near a ring with Galindez.

If I'm not mistaken, Lopez earned a second title shot at Galindez off of this fight, and I thought Lopez should've won that one.

 

He went from saying (post fight) "Mike is a good fighter" to "I hate Jews.." ????

 

Rossman never really hit Lopez with the full force of his right hand, though. Lopez took punishment, of course, but he managed to elude Rossman's heavier bombs.

It shouldn't be overlooked that this was a very, very competitive fight for five rounds. Dunphy said it was one of the very best ever staged in New York, and that's no exaggeration.

Rossman started strong, and swept the first two rounds with a peppery, crisp display of jabbing and crossing. Lopez was cut. Yaqui did just enough moving, boxing, and countering however to avoid being smashed by Rossman's heavy artillery.

In round three, Lopez came to life and showed what a brilliant, tough boxer/fighter he really was. Yaqui began ripping Rossman with stiff left hooks and right crosses, thrown as lead punches and as counters. Lopez put his shots together beautifully, and exhibited excellent footwork as well.

Lopez's dominance continued into the fourth, and couple of times Rossman was even wobbled by Lopez's blows. That's evidence that Mike wasn't really a true lightheavyweight, as he should have been able to withstand Yaqui's power easily. I agree with your point that Rossman was really a natural super middleweight, not a 175 lb fighter.

Nonetheless, Rossman fought back spiritedly in rounds three and four despite being hammered.

Round five was the highlight of the bout. Both guys traded punches on the inside at a frenetic pace. Rossman landed the heavier blows, but Lopez scored with the flashier combinations. This round honestly could have gone to either guy or been called even.

The big difference, maybe, is that throughout the fight, Lopez kept sneaking in stiff body shots. That may be why Rossman was gassed in the sixth.

Yaqui was winning the sixth handily when suddenly he hurt a tired Rossman with the jolting right hand midway through the stanza. After that, Rossman took a beating. If not for the referee's bad call -- I don't think there are standing eight counts in New York, and Rossman was the house fighter, don't forget -- Mike would have been dropped.

All in all, the bout must have been a great learning experience for Rossman, because he looked much better against Lopez later in 1978

 

Lopez had one of the most educated, versatile left hands I've ever seen. Just a surgeon with it -- jab, hook or uppercut.

 

Putting the quote aside, the real rap on Rossman is that he just wasn't that good. He caught a fading Galindez on a bad night but other than that one fight he really never was a world championship caliber fighter. Lopez was a top contender in a terrific era and really levels better as a fighter.

 

Before the fight, from what I gather, Rossman said stuff to the effect of "boxing is the only sport where Jews can beat up Mexicans." I guess Yaqui was angry about that.

Also, you don't believe Rossman was legitimate top ten material for his era? Rossman entered the top ten in 1976 by decisioning Mike Quarry, (who was ranked in the top ten by everyone himself). After that, Rossman TKO'd Quarry, which as a remarkable accomplishment. Rossman stayed in everyone's rankings until late 1979.

 

That puts a whole new light on it, k. Never heard that.

 

Jewish Rossman whose real name is De Piano.