Victor Galindez vs Mike Rossman

22-year-old challenger Mike Rossman, from Philadelphia, won the WBA light-heavyweight championship when Victor Galindez was stopped after 55 seconds of the 13th round at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The contest formed part of the programme headlined by Muhammad Ali’s return match with Leon Spinks and was fought before an evening crowd of 63,350. Rossman entered with 34 victories, three defeats and three draws. Galindez, the experienced Argentine champion, had won 53 contests and was making the 11th defence of the title he had held since December 1974. Rossman was widely regarded as a useful but overmatched challenger.

Galindez had established his reputation through hard 15-round contests against Jorge Ahumada, Pierre Fourie, Richie Kates, Yaqui Lopez and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. He was a compact, physically strong fighter who preferred to advance behind a crouch, draw an opponent into exchanges and work with hooks and clubbing right hands at short range. Rossman was taller and younger, with the longer jab, but had not previously completed a contest beyond 10 rounds. Earlier in the year he had been stopped after six rounds by Lopez, a man Galindez had twice defeated over the championship distance. There was therefore little in the form book to suggest that Rossman would outlast the champion.

Rossman began with proper regard for the reach difference. He kept his left hand active, stepped away after punching and refused to remain directly in front of Galindez. The jab was not used merely to collect points. It interrupted the champion’s advance and prepared the path for straight right hands. Galindez tried to work underneath it, moving forward with his gloves high and looking for the body, but his feet were slower than usual, and he struggled to reach a settled punching position. Rossman took the initiative before the champion could establish the close-range contest he wanted.

Galindez had occasional success when he forced Rossman towards the ropes, where his hooks carried greater weight than the challenger’s shorter replies. Those passages did not last. Rossman repeatedly returned to the centre and resumed his work with the left hand. During the middle rounds the jab opened a cut near Galindez’s right eye. Rossman directed further straight punches at the damaged area, reopening the wound whenever the champion’s corner appeared to have brought it under control. Galindez continued to advance and showed no inclination to withdraw, but he was following Rossman rather than cutting off the ring. His attacks became increasingly visible and were met by punches down the middle.

The contest gradually changed from a tactical surprise into a physical beating. Rossman, rather than weakening upon entering unfamiliar rounds, maintained his pace. He began putting combinations behind the jab and was willing to meet Galindez at close quarters before stepping away. Cuts developed around both of the champion’s eyes and across the bridge of his nose. Blood impaired his vision and left his face badly marked, yet he continued trying to reach Rossman with hooks. There were no knockdowns, nor was one required to establish the challenger’s control. Galindez remained upright through toughness and experience, but he was absorbing the cleaner punches and could no longer make Rossman retreat for any sustained period.

Rossman’s condition proved as important as his boxing. The challenger had never travelled so far in a professional contest, but he remained the fresher man through the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds. Galindez’s movements became laboured, and his punches lost their earlier force. Rossman drove him towards the ropes and worked with both hands, alternating straight blows to the head with shorter punches when the champion bent forward. Galindez still attempted to answer, but his replies were increasingly isolated. The long reign was ending through accumulation rather than one decisive punch.

Early in the 13th, Rossman again forced Galindez to the ropes and struck him with a succession of unanswered combinations. With the champion bleeding heavily and no longer defending himself adequately, the referee intervened at 55 seconds. Galindez was still standing, but the stoppage was necessary. Rossman had not stolen the championship with a sudden blow; he had won it by controlling the range, maintaining his work and beating Galindez over the 13 rounds that the fight lasted, a distance that had been expected to favour the Argentine. Galindez suffered wounds over both eyes and on the bridge of his nose, evidence of the repeated accuracy of Rossman’s jab and right cross.

Galindez afterwards attributed his performance to illness, personal difficulties, inadequate preparation and the strain of reducing from approximately 190 pounds. Whatever the champion's condition, Rossman carried out his assignment with discipline and did not let reputation alter his method. His victory was one of the largest upsets of the year, although it was partly obscured by Ali’s recovery of the heavyweight championship later that evening. Rossman made one successful defence before meeting Galindez again. In their eventual return at the same arena, the Argentine reversed the result when Rossman, troubled by a broken right hand, retired after nine rounds. On this first occasion, however, Rossman had been the superior fighter from the opening exchanges until the stoppage and had taken the championship on merit.

I’ve watched all of Victor Galindez’s world-title fights, and this plainly wasn’t his normal effort. He looked sluggish from the start, his feet were slow, and he struggled to get inside without being caught. The Galindez who beat Richie Kates, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Yaqui Lopez could apply educated pressure, close distance and turn a contest into his sort of fight. That man wasn’t in this fight.

That shouldn’t take anything away from Mike Rossman. He was a world-class light-heavyweight, not some lucky challenger who happened to catch the champion on a poor night. His jab was excellent, his right hand followed straight behind it, and he maintained the pace despite never previously going beyond ten rounds. He cut Galindez around both eyes and kept reopening the damage until the stoppage became inevitable.

Galindez later spoke about illness, marital trouble and struggling down from around 190 pounds. Watching the fight, I can believe the weight-making affected him. The rematch also told us something: a better-prepared Galindez reversed the result before Rossman’s damaged hand forced him out. Even so, Rossman won the first fight fairly and comprehensively. Galindez was not himself, but Rossman had the tools and discipline to make sure he paid for it.