The final press conference took place today at The Garden for Saturday’s World Championship Triple Header at the Theater at Madison Square Garden broadcast Live on HBO®.
Quotes follow…
FELIX VERDEJO (highlights of the 2012 Puerto Rico Olympian’s fight will be shown during the broadcast): This a great opportunity for me, to fight at Madsion Square Garden. Great Puerto Rican fighters that I followed as a kid have fought here. This is my first time fighting here and this is only the beginning. I hope this is the first of many to come.
JUAN CARLOS BURGOS: I am ready and confident for the fight on Saturday night. This was the best training camp of my career. I know I am fighting a Puerto Rican warrior. But like many who have come before me, I am a warrior also, a Mexican warrior. I will take this title back to Mexico where it belongs. I will be the first Mexican of 2013 to win a world championship.
PETER RIVERA (Roman Martinez’ co-promoter from Perto Rico): Rocky Martinez is Puerto Rico’s only current world champion. Everyone in Puerto Rico will be watching
ROMAN “Rocky” MARTINEZ: This is a great opportunity for me to fight at Madison Square Garden, where many of the great Puerto Rican champions have fought. I look to carry the torch and retain the title. Puerto Rico has a great boxing history and we will continue that. I prepared very well for this fight – it was the best camp ever and I am 100% ready for this fight. I prepared for twelve rounds. The man who prepared the best will win the fight.
BIILY BRISCOE (Gabriel Rosado Trainer): We were the mandatory challenger to junior middleweight champion k9 Buddrage, but we didn’t think twice about taking this fight. We are old school. We want to fight the best. Golovkin is the undefeated world champion, but you can’t let the man’s reputation beat you, you have to make the man beat you. Golovkin is the real deal but all fighters are beatable and we believe we have the plan. We are going tow in the fight. I don’t want to predict the round, but it’s not going to go the distance.
GABRIEL ROSADO: I turned down the opportunity to fight K9 for the world title. I took this fight because it is higher risk, higher reward. I know this guy is really good and has the will to win, but so do I.
GENNADY GOLOVKIN: Very excited to be fighting at Madison Square Garden which has always been a dream of mine. I’m happy to once again fight on HBO and ready to perform at a very high level. I’m glad that Gabriel accepted this opportunity and I wish him luck on Saturday night. ‘I’m prepared for anything Gabriel brings to the fight. Thanks to HBO and Madison Square Garden for their support.”
ROBERT GARCIA (Former world champion, brother and trainer of Mikey Garcia): Madison Square Garden is one of the great places to be. Mikey is in great shape. We had a great training camp. We know we are going up against the best featherweight int he world.
MIKEY GARCIA: It is going to be a great show on Saturday night. It is a great roster from top to bottom. I am very excited for the opportunity that is ahead of me. I plan to win the championship on Saturday night in a fight that i want people to never forget. This fight will leave a lasting impression on the boxing world for years to come.
FERNANDO BELTRAN (Salido co-promoter): My figher is 39-11 and the best featherweight in the world. When he defended his title against Juan Manuel Lopez on March 10, it probably should have been fight-of-the-year, but it was on the wrong network so that’s why we probably didn’t get it. He knocked Juan Manuel out and ruined his plans.
ORLANDO SALIDO: We always want to fight the best fighters in the world and one of them is right in front of us. He is a different type of fighter than I am and I know it will be a difficult fight. This fight is one that will be a war in the ring.
ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title against undefeated No. 1 contender MIKEY GARCIA; undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) / International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN will look to extend his reign into its third year against world-rated contender “King”GABRIEL ROSADO; and two-time WBO junior lightweight champion ROMAN “Rocky” MARTINEZ will put it all on the line when he goes mano a mano with No. 1 contender JUAN CARLOS “Mini” BURGOS. All three fights will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark®, Saturday, January 19, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
These six warriors have a combined record of 170-18-3 (123 KOs) — a winning percentage of 89% and a victory by knockout ratio of 72%.
Promoted by Top Rank® and K2 Promotions, in association with Tecate and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets, priced at $200, $100, $50 and $25, are currently available for purchase at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com orwww.thegarden.com
