Pee Wee Ross

Pee Wee Ross, born Fred Rossi on December 8, 1901, was a professional bantamweight boxer from Camden, New Jersey. Records show that he had five fights between 1925 and 1928, with four losses and one draw. It is likely that his record is more extensive than is known at this time.

Resuming his birth name, he married his wife Evelyn in the mid-1920s. A son, Fred Jr., was born in 1926. By 1930 daughters Elizabeth and Mamie had joined the family. At the time of the 1930 census, Fred Rossi owned his own cigar and candy store. The family was then renting a home at 416 Taylor Avenue.

A newspaper article from February 14, 1938 gives Fred Rossi’s address as 438 Mickle Street. In 1939 Fred Rossi was the owner of a bar at 5th and Washington Streets in Camden. The 1947 Camden City Directory shows him and wife Evelyn living at 820 Elm Street in North Camden.

Fred Rossi remained interested in the fight game, and was a life member of the New Jersey Veterans Boxing Association Ring Number 6 in Camden. He was still active in the association as late as 1959. Fred Rossi passed away in September of 1981.

By Shading Al Del Galdo in Convention Hall Finale

BOOTS AND MICHAELS ADD TWO MORE KAYO VICTIMS

Long and Short Knockout Artists of Riverside put Quietus on Opponents

GRANDE BEATS ROSS

By Tom Ryan

The year of 1928 evidently is going to be kinder to Roxie Allen, one of the best local lightweights, than the last one and 1927 can not be said to have frowned upon the pugilistic careers of the downtown Italian, despite the fact that he lost his first scrap that year.

Allen started off the New Year on the right foot by defeating Al Del Galdo, clever New York thumper, in the feature eight-round bout at the Convention Hall last night, while the same day last year he took one of the niftiest pastings of his career when he encountered Basil Galiano, of New Orleans, at the Philadelphia Arena. Allen won four rounds of his scrap with Del Galdo, while the invader carried three and one was as even as a carpenter’s level.

Two of the other four settos on the night’s program terminated in knockouts, while the other brace of jousts went the limit. Kid Boots and Joey Michaels, the Long and Short knockout twins of Riverside, again stepped into the limelight by carting their rival foemen in rapid-fire order. Michaels knocked out Jimmy Costello of Philadelphia, in the second round, while Boots flattened Stanley Criss, another Penn scrapper, in the first round of the third bout.

Grande Proves Too Elusive For Ross

Frisco Grande, of New York, proved too elusive for Pee Wee Ross, local flyweight, in the eight round semi-final and won hands down. Jackie Hindle, another local product, also finished on the short end of the verdict in his fracas with Joey Blake, of Conshohocken, Hindle’s wildness leading to his downfall.

However, the main fracas held the interest of the crowd as Del Galdo was confident before the contest that he would overpower the local Italian. Al simply failed in what many another mitt wielder has felt certain he could accomplish as Allen was crafty enough to take the lead during most of the fuss, and, after jolting home a few shots at long range, would sew Al up tight as a drum when they came to close quarters.

Allen was clearly entitled to the verdict as he landed far more punches than Del Galdo, took the initiative more often and sustained less damage than the good-looking New Yorker.

The downtown Italian one-twoed his way to the decision, first stabbing his left to the head, then crossing with the right to the same spot. Del Galdo centered his attack upon Allen’s body for the first six rounds and attained very little for his efforts as that is one of Allen’s strong points and a spot on which few of his opponents ever attempt to stage an assault in order to beat him.

But Del Galdo wised up after the sixth, shifted his attack to the head in the seventh and almost brought Allen to the mat with a crushing right hook to the jaw. It was the hardest punch of the bout and Allen’s knees sagged a bit under the impulse of the wallop, which forced him to hold until he collected his bearings. After the break Al followed up with a stiff left hook to the body and Allen did the sailor’s hornpipe for the remainder of the round.

That was Del Galdo’s best session, and the only round in which either lad was in a precarious position.

Allen’s best round was the fifth. In that period he hit Del Galdo with at least a dozen rights on the chin, but none of the slams carried enough pressure to daze the New Yorker, who kept coming forward after every punch. Allen also carried the final session by quite a fair margin, and gave Al plenty of “roughing” in doing so.

There was little to rave about the first four rounds, one or two mixups on the ropes constituting the major part of the scrapping, but those scrambles led the fans to believe that something might turn up in the closing sessions and it did. Allen had won the first and third rounds by mere shadows, while Del Galdo copped the fourth with the second being even, but from the fourth on the boys stepped on “it” and finished in whirlwind fashion.

Last Four Rounds of Action

Allen romped away with the fifth in great style; Del Galdo came back and won the sixth and also grabbed the seventh, while Allen fought his way back to an edge in the eighth and every session was crammed full of action. All things considered, it was a satisfactory skirmish and sent the mob home well pleased.

The surprise of the night cropped up in the semi-final. Ross, who has been traveling at a fast pace in his last few bouts, was expected to win over Grande, but alas and alack, Pee Wee stubbed his toe. Grande proved to be a regular will-of-the-wisp and Ross found it difficult to locate the bigger portion of the foe.

Grande displayed a dandy left hand. In fact, he did more tricks with it than a monkey can do with a peanut. He jabbed, hooked, and uppercutted with his unorthodox plan until Ross appeared to be bewildered. Nevertheless Pee Wee finished strong and had Grande holding in the final session. Grande copped five rounds, four of them by wide margins, while Ross gained a slight edge in the fourth and sixth and won the eighth by a wide gulf. Ross weighed 110½ while Grande came in at 114 pounds.

While Hindle won three rounds of his skirmish with Blake the latter won the periods credited to him by wider margins than any credited to Jackie. The local lad carried the first three rounds, while Blake carried off the honors in the last half of the battle.

Hindle’s Wildness Loses Tilt

The fact that Hindle has been inactive for a long period was very much in evidence last night and was the main cause of his losing the verdict. His judgment of distance was weird and lost him the fuss. He missed any number of swings, which if they had found their mark would have been more than enough to have enabled him to romp home a winner. But Jackie was away off, and as a result Blake, an awkward southpaw, got in many telling uppercuts due to Jackie’s missing.

Hindle, however, fought his usual courageous battle and with a few more fights under his belt should be ready to tackle far bigger game than Blake. The Pennsylvanian was three pounds lighter than Hindle, who weighed in at 136 pounds.

St. Joan of Arc Church Bouts Furnish Plenty of Action Throughout

Fifteen sizzling amateur boxing bouts, together with nine acts of vaudeville, were presented to a capacity crowd in the St. Joan of Arc Church gym, Fairview. The proceeds derived from the affair will go toward the church building fund.

In the feature bout, Bob Zimmerman, of Fairview, unintentionally fouled Eddie O’Tell of South Camden, in the first round and Referee Joe Bonnell immediately stopped the fuss. Zimmerman was in the lead when O’Tell, in attempting to avoid a left hook to the body, leaped into the air with the result that the punch landed low.

Zimmerman, in order not to disappoint the crowd went three rounds with Mickey Murtha. Battling Mack and Pee Wee Ross staged a clown act, while Johnny Lucas met Billy De Lue; Tommy Lyons clashed with Jack Stanley; “Peaches” Gray tackled Terrible Pine; Joe Colon faced Billy Osborne, and George Anderson encountered Milton Bamford. All bouts were limited to three rounds.

Deputy Boxing Commissioner Edward A. Welsh attended the affair, and when introduced by Announcer Bill Kennedy received an ovation that lasted fully five minutes. Mrs. Mary Walsh Kobus, a member of the city board of censors also was present.

Sergeant Ray Smith assisted Bonnell in refereeing, while John McGraw was timekeeper. It was one of the most successful affairs ever conducted by the church athletic association.

The committee on arrangements for the third annual picnic and field day to be held by Ring No. 6, VBA, will hold a meeting tonight, at 220 Cooper Street, starting at 8 o’clock.

Lew Skymer and Jo Spearing co-chairmen, request the presence of all members of the committee, which includes Vic Righter, Ed Adams, Frankie Youker, Larry Hildebrand, Frank DiSalvio, A. Gartland, Bob Kavanaugh, Tom Reitzes, Patsy Carlo, Peewee Ross, Al Ambrosino.

Also W. DiPaolo, K.O. Riley, John Knowles, Tommie Saul, Eddie Chaney, Bobby Zimmer, Tony Tilman, Tommy Carr, George Ealer, and William Jeffries.