Mike Rossman: A Look Back at a Golden Time in the Light Heavyweight Division

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Boxing, as we know, can be a brutal and beautiful game. The great fights encompassed both and most fight fans will agree that Ali vs Frazier, Gatti vs Ward and Morales vs Barrera blessed us with their poetry during the most stunning exchanges of their great wars. But the sport has its lighter side. The showmanship that Hector Camacho, SR. Jorge Paez, Naseem Hamed and others brought to the ring over the years was pure entertainment and it lent itself to the circus that is sometimes professional boxing.

I’ve always found a fighter’s nickname a great source of enjoyment and, I think it’s safe to say that no other sport rejoices in the “alias” quite like the game we love. The hilarity of the moniker was captured perfectly during a conversation in
“The Naked Gun 2: The Smell of Fear”. It goes something like this:

Lt. Frank Drebin: Hector Savage. From Detroit. Ex-boxer. His real name was Joey Chicago.
Ed Hocken: Oh, yeah. He fought under the name of Kid Minneapolis.
Nordberg: I saw Kid Minneapolis fight once. In Cincinnati.
Lt. Frank Drebin: No you’re thinking of Kid New York. He fought out of Philly.
Ed Hocken: He was killed in the ring in Houston. By Tex Colorado. You know, the Arizona Assassin.
Nordberg: Yeah, from Dakota. I don’t remember it was North or South.
Lt. Frank Drebin: North. South Dakota was his brother. From West Virginia.
Ed Hocken: You sure know your boxing.
Lt. Frank Drebin: All I know is never bet on the white guy.

Michael Albert De Piano was born in Turnersville, New Jersey on July 1st 1955. His father, Michael De Piano, was Italian and his mother, Celia Rossman, was Jewish. The young Mike took his mother’s name for the ring and presented himself as Mike Rossman, an exciting young Jewish fighter to fill the gap long since left by the likes of Barney Ross, Benny Leonard, Max Baer and Jack “Kid” Berg and like Berg, Rossman fought with the Star of David on his trunks. He was known as “The Jewish Bomber” and “The Kosher Butcher” and he was just as exciting as the monikers would suggest. He was an all action fighter who could take one helluva shot and come back to deliver the goods. He took up boxing at the grand old age of 14 and was trained by his father. With only twenty three amateur bouts under his belt, Mike decided to try the paid ranks and had his pro debut on August 10th 1973 scoring a 2nd round KO against Stanley Dawson. His march to the title had begun but, as his career flourished, it was a path sometimes strewn with controversy. On the night he beat Dawson, there were taunts of “Get that Jew” from sections of the crowd while his Jewish mother sat ringside.

By the Summer of 1975, Mike had 21 big wins on his record including a 5th round TKO over the tough and durable John Pinney. But on May 19th of that year, he shared the ring with Mike Nixon, brother in law of Jerry and Mike Quarry. The bout was fought at middleweight and it was a bruising affair with Nixon winning by split decision. Not to be outdone, Rossman vowed to avenge the loss and he did just that less than three months later, stopping Nixon in the 7th with a concussive right cross. The jubilation was short lived, however, and Rossman lost a unanimous decision to Mike Quarry six weeks later in Madison Square Garden…a year of mixed fortunes. Revenge against Quarry would come on two occasions, a majority decision for “The Kosher Butcher” in 1976 and a brutal pounding of Quarry in 1977. Mike and his team now set their sights on the WBA Light Heavyweight Title but first they needed to get past the ultra-tough Mexican Yaqui Lopez.

The fight was a bad tempered affair even before the boxers entered the ring. Lopez went for Rossman like a man possessed with the fight being stopped by TKO in the 6th. Mike would bounce back with two big KO wins in 1978 and would get his shot at the WBA Light Heavyweight title against the Argentinean champion Victor Galindez.

Galindez was a highly regarded world champion and, following Mike’s defeat at the hands of Lopez, it was widely expected that the South American would easily dispose of the New Jersey puncher. The fight was on the undercard of a bill that is dear to my heart, the September 15th 1978 rematch of Ali and Spinks….it was the first fight I ever watched live and it was a wonderful introduction to the game. Rossman played his part in that great night and produced a performance worthy of a champion. Once again, the bout was ill tempered. Perhaps it was due to the rumors surrounding the Lopez fight but Galindez had a hatred for Rossman and made it clear. He set out to replicate the Lopez performance and rushed at the challenger. But Mike had learned from his mistakes and he picked the champion with precision shots. Galindez began to cut badly around both eyes and, as he did, Rossman piled on the pressure. Referee Carlos Berrocal waved the fight off in the 13th round and the boy from Turnersville was crowned champion of the world. Galindez, his fans and, some would say, the WBA were outraged by the stoppage.

The organization allowed Mike only one defense before demanding a rematch. That defense was an easy night’s work for Rossman with another TKO win for “The Jewish Bomber”, this time against Aldo Traversaro. There were talks of a move to heavyweight to challenge the aging Ali but, rightly or wrongly, Mike opted to take the rematch against Galindez. It would be a regrettable decision. Galindez was in super shape when the men faced each other on April 14th 1979. Many felt that Rossman was less hungry and, when he broke his killer right hand in the 5th, the game was up. With only his left hand in operation, Rossman took terrible punishment and it was an act of mercy when referee Stanley Christodoulou stopped the contest in round 9. Mike would never fight for a title again and, following mixed fortunes over the following four years, he hung up his gloves for the last time following a win over lightly regarded Henry Sims in 1983. He bowed out with an impressive record of 44-7-3 with 27 big wins by way of KO.

In the years after the bell, Mike drifted a little. He had a few scrapes with the law but managed to keep himself on the straight and narrow. He worked various jobs before taking employment as a roofer with the roofers union in Atlantic City. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and can still be found running along the beach front in Atlantic City.

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