Tony Chiaverini vs. Edgar Ross

Tony Chiaverini beat Edgar Ross by TKO at 1:51 in round 10 of 12

• Date: 1979-03-16
• Location: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
• Referee: Lew Eskin

"There may have been some doubt about what was at stake, but there was no question about the winner of Friday night's junior middleweight fight between Tony Chiaverini and Edgar 'Mad Dog' Ross. Chiaverini, fighting before a hometown crowd of 8,300, dropped Ross with a jarring left hook at 1:51 of the 10th round. Chiaverini knocked Ross down once in the 9th round, then again early in the 10th before landing the punch that ended a string of 50 straight Ross victories. The scheduled 12 round bout was even through the first eight rounds. Chiaverini scoring early with lefts and Ross controlling the middle rounds with combinations." -Associated Press

• This bout was advertised as being for the North American junior middleweight title, which was held by Ross. However, before the bout an official from the NABF stated that it was not a sanctioned title match, despite claims from the Chiaverini camp that it had WBC backing.

Post fight comments

• "He's a great fighter. You can't knock a guy like Ross out with one punch." -Tony Chiaverini

• "I have no excuses. He beat the heck out of me. I could tell when I walked out there, he had it all together." -Edgar 'Mad Dog' Ross