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Gabriel Rosado has taken on some of the best that boxing has to offer. The Philadelphia native fought world champions Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermell Charlo, Peter Quillin, and Joshua Clottey.
Rosado (25-12-1, 14 KOs, a no-contest) gets another crack in a marquee name Friday night when he fights former two-time middleweight champion, Daniel Jacobs, from Hard Rock Live to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida, live on DAZN.
Before returning to the ring for the first time in 2020, Rosado sat down with DAZN News to discuss the background behind the heated rivalry, whether he respects Jacobs, and what this fight means for his career.
(Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity reasons.)
DAZN News: This fight has lasted a year since the confrontation when you shared a card in December. Did you feel like the fight would ever happen just considering the intense heat between you guys?
Gabriel Rosado: The only thing that made me feel the fight wasn’t going to happen was the pandemic. The fight was supposed to take place in June. Then the pandemic hit. This changed things. My only concern was just waiting for the appointment and seeing what would happen with this whole pandemic and whether fans would be allowed in.
DN: You know, a couple of minutes before we started chatting, I watched the video of you and Daniel during the confrontation in Phoenix. What led to all that skirmish to the point where you guys stand in each other’s face.
GR: Was the confrontation an accumulation of will we fight or not? It was just not knowing what was going on with what Chavez was going through with his legal issues. The day of the weight is when the confrontation took place. So now he’s fighting Chavez, and I’m fighting my opponent. So I didn’t really have much to tell him. But then he starts talking to me. So I said to him, ‘You had a chance to fight me. But you didn’t, so why are you talking shit? There are cameras around, and now you wanna be tough ‘? That’s where it came from. I thought, ‘Look, it was between me and Chavez. You chose Chavez, so don’t sell – now because there’s nothing you can do about it. What will we do, fight behind ‘? I was basically telling him to stop cheating and act like you want to do something. You had your chance to fight me and you chose Chavez. I just found it funny that he had something to say behind my back when we couldn’t do anything.
DN: Did you lose respect for him after the confrontation? Either it was or it was, you know, always keep things professional. You are an old school fighter and you will have respect for him in any case.
GR: No, not really. I don’t respect him as a person. As a fighter, he is a good fighter. As a person, his behavior and character, I don’t respect him as a person.
DN: What is there about her character that you are not particularly fond of?
GR: I just think he discussed me. I find it disrespectful, I always get respect everywhere in boxing and I show respect. It’s just a lack of respect for me. I will see him as a clown. I feel like he’s full of himself.
Dan always wants to talk about “Oh, you took all these losses”. But you know, if you look at it, Danny hasn’t fought anyone who came close. And in the moment he fought with a decent good guy, Dmitry Pirog. He was beaten. And then he came back and beat a decent fighter and Peter Quillin. Many people don’t remember that Peter Quillin was out of the ring for a while. Peter Quillin was already up there in age. He was older. Other than that, he didn’t fight anyone. But then when he fights with someone like Golovkin, who is already past his peak. I fought Golovkin in my prime. He fights a Golovkin beyond his peak, and Golovkin beats him and drops him. Then he fights Canelo and Canelo instructs him. So when it comes to fighting A-level guys, he never beat them. All he has beaten are guys he should beat.
When you look at my record, I’m fighting killer after killer after killer. I am fighting Golovkin. I’m fighting Quillin, Charlo, and I’m fighting all these guys one on one. I fight these guys at a time when my experience is not lacking. It’s all a learning process. I feel like I am at this point in my career, and I can use those losses as an experience to be better. For Jacobs, if he went my way, we wouldn’t know who the f … Jacobs is.
DN: Is that where the hashtag dares to be awesome?
GR: Yes. That mentality came from the time I fought Golovkin. I was already ranked number one in the (1) 54-pound division. My mandatory was “K9” (Cornelius Bundrage). I was very favorite for beating “K9” for the world title. But then I was offered the Golovkin fight. I didn’t have to fight Golovkin. I just wanted to fight Golovkin because he was just one of those things like, ‘Dare to be great. I want to fight this guy. ‘ And I did. This has always been my attitude. When Dan belittles me, and belittles my record, he doesn’t consider how any fighter fights the kind of opposition I do. It’s always that you fight a good fight, and the next fight is perhaps a fight to stay busy. My attitude is just to carry it on. I feel I can use it now to my advantage because there is nothing I haven’t seen yet. There’s nothing Dan will bring to the table that I haven’t seen before. It will be a great fight.
DN: Since this fight was announced, it seems like this is a battle for respect for you because of the things Danny said and last year’s confrontation. Do you think you’re fighting for respect coming November 27th?
GR: I think I’m fighting for the legacy. I am fighting to put myself in a position to have a chance for the world title. My mentality is that it’s about inheritance, man. It’s about getting this big win and hopefully fighting Callum Smith, (Billy Joe) Saunders, Canelo (or) someone with a title.
DN: What do you think of him saying it’s personal because it’s personal to him? Is it personal to you or do you see it as a stepping stone to a title?
GR: It’s personal. It’s personal because he screwed me the wrong way. I think he is underestimating me. I think it is looking beyond me. I think he’s looking at me as a warm-up fight. I just want to turn the script over to him and let him know he made a mistake.
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