Rose was age 16 when he made his professional boxing debut, and at age 18 he won the Australian bantamweight title. At age 19 he won the world bantamweight title with a 15-round decision (a fight whose outcome is determined by judges' scoring) over Masahiko (“Fighting”) Harada of Japan. Rose successfully defended his title three times before being knocked out by Mexican Ruben Olivares (Olivares, Ruben) in the fifth round on Aug. 22, 1969. Rose then gained a considerable amount of weight and moved up several classes to the lightweight (135 pounds) division, but he was unable to emulate his success as a bantamweight and retired in 1976.