THE SWEET SCIENCE

When I was on the air in Philadelphia all those many years ago, whatever semblance of notoriety I had achieved gave me access to some very cool people, some of whom became pretty good friends. I was a young guy and gravitated toward the sports scene, which, at that time in Philly, was smokin' hot. The city's teams, the Phillies, the Eagles, the Flyers, the 76ers, were all at the top of their respective games and I had become friendly with a few guys from a few of the teams. As I reflect back, I can tell you that my friends were all really good people and I stand by my choices of friends over the years. One of my closest friends was a guy who lived in the next town east of me in South Jersey. His name was Mike Rossman. When people met him, they immediately liked him and found him, as I did, to be a gentle guy with a sweet disposition. When they would say things like, “That Mike's a really nice guy. What does he do?” I would say, “He boxes!” “He boxes?” Boy, did he box. When Mike and I met, I had the number one morning show in town and he was a fan of the show. He was the WBC Light Heavyweight champion of the world. I am to this day, a huge boxing fan. We were both young marrieds with young kids and we had a lot of similar interests. We started “hanging out.” He would let me go me with him when he would train at the funky little gym in South Philly that looked as if could have been setting for every hardcore boxing film you've ever seen. There was even the requisite little, old, gimpy guy sitting in the corner, just sort of keeping an eye on things. He was the “wisdom” of the glove game that permeated the place. One day, when we walked into the gym, Old Gimpy asked, in his unmistakeable South Philly way, “Hey, Mikey.....who's dis guy?” Mike said, “This is my friend, Bobby, think you can get him a fight?” He turned his glance to me and asked, “How much you weigh?” I thought for a brief moment and kinda joked, “About 158....a middleweight.” He didn't even blink before he said, “We'll get him Hagler.” My mouth hit the floor. Was this guy serious? Marvin Hagler was, at the time, the toughest guy in the middleweight division. All of the title holders, to a man, refused to give him a shot because they knew that after the fight, they would be going home without their belts. Get me Hagler? I looked back at the old guy and said, “Get me Hagler's SHIOES.....I'll make sure they look real shiny the next time he steps in the ring with someone who ain't me.” Mike won his WBC belt in 1978 on the undercard of of the Ali – Spinx rematch by defeating the heavily favored Victor Galindez. He successfully defended the title once that same year, stopping Italian challenger Aldo Traversaro in the fifth round. Then, in 1979, Galindez decided he wanted his belt back. The fight was set for February but, due to the challenger's embarrassing “no-show” the night of the fight, it was rescheduled for April at the Meadowlands. Rossman 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 Mike told his father-manager after the ninth round that he couldn't go on. Galindez had reclaimed the championship. I was sitting front row, ringside with his wife and was taking pictures with his camera, documenting every excruciating moment of his down fall. The man they called "The Jewish Bomber" finished his professional boxing career 4 years later with a record of 44–7–3, with 27 knockouts. It wasn't long after Michael had lost the title he would never regain that I was bidding my farewell to the radio station that had just decided that we were no longer “a fit.” I called him and said, “Hey, pal....looks like we're both 'on the beach.” “C'mon over.” he said so I hopped in my car and drove the 12 or 13 minutes to his house in the next town. He beckoned me to the back yard where he produced a Whiffle Ball and bat and asked, “Wanna play Home Run Derby?” I couldn't think of anything that I would rather have been doing right then and there and so, we played into the evening. We were both going through a period where things were just not going right but I was confident that day, that my fates were about to change for the better. I kicked Mike's ass!