ANDRE ROZIER: GOLOVKIN VS STEVENS WILL BE HAGLER VS HEARNS

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    On November 2nd at the Madison Square Garden Theater, Curtis “Showtime” Stevens (25-3 24KOs) will be stepping into the ring for the fight of his career. Stevens will be challenging for the WBA Middleweight Championship of the world, when he takes on Gennady Golovkin (27-0 24KOs).

    Stevens currently has a four fight winning streak, and his last loss came at the hands of Jesse Brinkley in January of 2010. In that fight, Stevens’ lost a unanimous decision but Andre Rozier feels that we’re seeing a different Curtis since the loss, “Curtis’ on track, focused, more mature and ready to become the Middleweight Champion of the world.” The loss to Brinkley was in the Super Middleweight Division and what he feels the major difference is, “He’s really giving a 100% to what he is doing now and he’s fighting at 160 pounds (Middleweight),” said Rozier.

    Although Golovkin is on a 14 fight knockout streak and he hasn’t had a fight go to the judges’ scorecards since 2008, Rozier and Stevens are not going to be caught off guard by the possibility of going the distance, “We’re preparing for 15 rounds.”

    Often trainers and fighters do not reveal flaws they see in their opponent but Rozier confidently provided what they see. ”He throws wide shots,” and “When he gets anxious he tries too hard.” Although Stevens and his team are preparing to go the distance, they are ready to start the bout guns blazing. “If they do come out in the first round like I expect them, you’re going to see fireworks,” he continued. “It’s going to be like back in the days of Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns.”

    Abel Sanchez (Golovkin’s Trainer), has been open about his feelings about Stevens and when Rozier was asked whether he feels they are underestimating Stevens’ he said .“Without a doubt,” and he continued, “Wow can you truly say he is not on the level of (Golovkin), when he’s crushing… crushing his opponents.”

    Stevens’ is not Rozier’s only fighter preparing for a world title. Demetrius Andrade (19-0 13KOs) is gearing up to take on Vanes Martirosyan (33-0-1 21KOs) for the vacant WBO Light Middleweight title.  Andrade was originally slated to take of the former WBO champion Zaurbek Baysangurov (28-1 20KOs), but after an injury in training Zaurbek had to relinquish the title leaving it vacant. The fight was first signed to be on the undercard of Chavez vs. Vera but since Chavez was injured the date on September 7th fell through. Then the fight date was once again moved to November 9th, on the Mikey Garcia undercard. “He knows the game gets a little quirky.” and although the date of Andrade’s first title shot was moved twice, “He’s staying ready”.

    Stevens’ and Andrade are not Rozier’s only rising stars; Sadam Ali recently signed a promotional contract with Golden Boy. Even though it has been over a year since Ali was in the ring, Rozier is confident in his young prospect, “Once he gets back on track, and gets comfortable again, I think you’re going to see a new Sadam Ali, a future Welterweight Champion of the world.”

    Danny Jacobs, last month on the inaugural broadcast of Fox Sports One Monday Night Boxing Series, knocked out Giovanni Lorenzo. When asked what’s next for Jacobs, Rozier stated “Danny is ready for anything and everything.”  Since Jacobs is signed with Golden Boy, the chances of him fighting any of the Champions on HBO (i.e. Golovkin and Martinez) are close to zero. That lowers the amount of actually champions to choose from but he stated, “We have to be ready for everyone and anyone.”