In Washington, D.C. on January 25th at the DC Armory “King” Gabriel Rosado (21-7 13KOs) will once again get a shot at keeping his career alive when he takes on Middleweight Prospect Jermell Charlo (22-0 11KOs). For Rosado this will be nothing new as this is arguably the fourth time in a row that he would be his opponents biggest test to-date.
This will be Rosado’s first fight back at the 154lb limit since moving up to fight Gennady Golovkin last year. After Suffering a TKO one-sided loss to Golovkin, he lost a questionable decision to Love later turned to a no contest, and a controversial stoppage loss to Peter Quillin; Rosado has moved the second half of his camp to Caguas, Puerto Rico and is focused and ready to make another run at 154lb.
“I’m just excited for this opportunity at 154 to make a statement. I kind of have unfinished business in this weight class, giving up my number one ranking when I went up to fight Triple G. So I’m just excited to go back down at 154. I think I’m going to be bigger and stronger, and I’m just ready for it.”
Charlo will be a tough fight for Rosado. Jermell hasn’t fought the level of competition yet, but he has proven to have the skills to compete at a high level. 2013 might be one that Rosado would like to forget as he came up on the short end of the three biggest fights of his career. With the new year comes new opportunities for Rosado and he is ready to not only beat the rising prospect but he wants to make sure the judges don’t have a say in the matter.
“This is a fight that I’m looking at that I have to really be impressive, make a statement and go for the knockout. The old timers say, “Don’t ever go for the knockout,” and I understand that, but I think when you look at my last two fights I pretty much had no choice but to go for a knockout. This is not a fight where I can go there and be confident in boxing or doing things that I could do. I just got to be a killer. I got to be a beast. I got to go for the kill.”
Rosado has appeared on HBO once and Showtime twice last year. In all three, he has made exciting fights whether it is him showing his heart and resiliency again Golovkin or his two great efforts duking it out with Quillen and Love. Once again Rosado finds himself on the undercard of a Showtime telecast.
Rosado explains why he thinks that is. “I think that boxing is a sport but it’s also entertainment, and at the end of the day it’s about being an entertainer and I think the type of fights that I bring to the table are entertaining to the fans. You see knockdowns. You see blood. You see controversy, of course in my last two fights.”
