For the last few years the Charlo twins, Jermell and Jermall have battered their way up the Junior Middleweight division. In his first real test thus far, Jermell Charlo (22-0 11KOs) will challenge Gabriel Rosado (21-7 13KOs) at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C on Saturday January 25th. Rosado is on a 3 fight skid but his toughness has kept him competitive in all but the Golovkin fight last year. With Rosado taking more of a Gate-Keeper role in this fight, Jermell knows that this is a tough fight and his opportunity to showcase his talents against a formidable opponent.
“Defeating Gabriel Rosado will be, I want to say, the ladder that you finish climbing. I want to get to that point where you compare me to the greats and you compare me to the best in the weight division.” He continued to say, “I’m going to come through this fight. I’m going to make it happen. We’ve got multiple game plans. We can handle adversity. We just haven’t been able to show much in these last recent fights because the fight is only been to where it’s been. So I’m here to get it on and do what I do best and that’s win.”
Although Rosado is not fighting to prove himself in the division, he is fighting to stay alive at the top of the sport. It’s not only Charlo who understands the importance of this fight, Rosado is in a must win situation and because of this past blemishes Gabe has stated that he wants to go for the knockout against Jermell. With all that’s on the line for Rosado, Jermell feels that because he will be aggressive there will be an opportunity to land some big shots and he will enter the ring with a similar game plan as Rosado.
“Just go and knock him out. He can’t knock me out. I’m going to do what I got to do in the ring, and that’s all I’m going to say. I’m not going to do all the little trash talking, like the little Twitter trash talking. I’m training right now. I’ve been training for about a week and a half and I’m ready to fight. I’ve been ready to fight.”
Oscar De La Hoya loves talking about “blueprints” to beat fighters (or maybe just Floyd but you know what I’m saying). With six losses on his record Rosado’s “blueprint” has been exploited. Jermell has yet to lose and intends to not only outclass Rosado but through aggression and determination, he will display his dominance as well as skill.
“I’m going to be aggressive of course. That’s the thing. You never go into a fight not being aggressive. You come to kill. That’s what every boxer should want to do, but I’m going to outsmart him. My skills are way better than his. So I’m going to beat him at whatever he’s trying to do. So if he’s trying to come in aggressive, I’m going to beat him at being aggressive. I’m going to take his game plan away from him, and that’s what’s going to make me victorious on the 25th.”