[Rocco Del Sesto]

01/09/67 Monday
Worchester, MA, USA
Jose (King) Roman – HW (8-0-0) vs. Joe Webb – HW (0-1-0)

Jose (King) Roman - Puerto Rico Rating 2
Heaveyweight 1966-78, 81

The attached Roman file has the bio info added. I changed his career stage to be from 66 to 78 since he was inactive until that one fight in 1981. Otherwise its the file from the game.
54 wins / 26 losses / 3 draws / 27 KO

Manager: Bill Daley

Started out career 14-0-0 when in April and June 1967 Jose suffered consecutive losses to Hal Carroll by 8th round decision and to Herman Harris by 10th round TKO. He was only 3-3-1 the rest of 1967 and much of 1968. That included a win over Charley Polite and a 12th round KO loss to Pedro Agosto.

AFter that loss to Agosto, Roman got things turned around. Starting in early 1969 and thru the next 4-1/2 years Roman piled up a 27-2-0,15KO's record. Included were wins over Jack O'Halloran, Chuck Wepner, Bowie Adams(22-12-4), O'Halloran again, Bill Hardney, Manuel Ramos, Jose Manuel Urtain, Charley Polite, Tony Ventura and Terry Daniels. The two losses were a 10 round decision lost to Jack Bodell in July 1969 and a 10 round decision lost to a Robie Harris(5-11-1) in October 1971.

Despite that fairly recent lost to the club fighter Harris, with his record now standing at 44-7-1 after his 3rd round KO of Clyde Elmo Brown in June 1973, Jose Roman was given a shot at the heavyweight title. In September 1973 he climbed into the ring in Tokyo, Japan against undefeated George Foreman(38-0-0) for a 15 round bout for the WBA/WBC Heavyweight Titles. 2 minutes into the 1st round, Big George KO'd Roman's chance for the title, if there ever was really any kind of chance! A little more then 3 months later in December 1973, Roman climbed back into the ring against Pedro Agosto for the Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title. Roman lost by decision to Agosto.

The rest of Roman's career, the only kind of title he ever got a chance for was the Florida State Heavyweight Title. He fought and lost twice for that title to Bobby Lloyd(15-28-1). After the Foreman/Agosto fights, Roman finished up his career 10-17-2 with 1 no contest. He did have a number of fights with some name opponents, unfortunately for Roman, most were without success. Did did manage wins over Ibar Arrington, and Terry Daniels and a draw with Jose Manuel Urtain. He lost fights to Mike Quarry, John (Dino) Dennis, Mike Schutte twice, Jimmy Young, Randy Stephens, Ibar Arrington, Boone Kirkman, Walter Moore(18-1-0), Arrington again and Alfio Righetti in November 1978. After the Righetti loss, Roman did not put the gloves back on until March 1981 when he came back for one more fight, which turned into a 5th round KO loss to Tony Severance(13-6-1). He also fought LHW Eddie Owens in August 1974 but the fight was stopped in the 9th and declared a no contest.

Joe Webb - UK Rating 1
Heaveyweight 1955, 67

0 wins / 2 losses / 0 draw / 0 KO

Hometown: Camberwell, England

Rating by: Rocco Del Sesto

Fought once in November 1955 loosing by 2nd round KO to a Burt Singer. Then came back for whatever reason in January 1967 against Jose (King) Roman. Roman Ko'd Webb in the 2nd round.

The Fight.....
This is one of those fights that you wonder how and why did it get set up and why was Roman, who even though was still very young in his career, get matched up with a guy like Webb. Who was Webb that he fought once professionally in 1955 according to BoxRec and then had not fought again until 9 years later here in Worchester against Roman. Webb is one of those kinds of guys you just wonder what to do rating him. Not much to do, give him some real terrible ratings and use him or not however you may choose. In 1967, Roman made pretty quick business of Mr. Webb, KO’ing him in the 2nd round. Webb retires for good with an 0-2-0 record, KO’d in both his fights. In our replay, it surprised me it went as long as it did. In my 6 round scheduled replay, Roman totally dominated the first two round but Webb avoided him enough to last through the rounds. The 3rd round was more of the same, as Roman lands punches almost at will. He doesn’t manage to put him down on the canvas, but finally at the 2:42 mark of the 3rd round, the referee stops the fight and Roman is awarded the TKO victory to up his record to 9-0-0.