By Steve Kim

Gabe Rosado fights this weekend at AT&T Stadium near Dallas, Texas against Willie Monroe. But the fight Rosado and his trainer, Fernando Vargas, wanted was against WBO middleweight titlist, Billy Joe Saunders. 

Rosado-Monroe will be part of Saturday's HBO Pay-Per-View - where Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will challenge WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith.

"Yeah, we wanted this fight bad but this is still a good fight for us," said the former world champion-turned-trainer ."We're going to look great in this fight. We had an awesome camp I just feel that it's going to be a defining moment for Gabriel."

Vargas and his fighter were under the impression that a deal to face Saunders (with the winner to face Canelo in December) had been consummated.

"It was our understanding that he had agreed to it and we were in camp for two months already and it didn't work out. We're still going to fight a southpaw and we're still going to look great Saturday."

There is a chance that the winner of Rosado-Monroe could face 'Canelo' in the the near future.

The mindset of today's boxers is a far cry from that of Vargas, who was never afraid to take on the game's best at an early age from the likes of Ike Quartery, Winky Wright and Oscar De La Hoya. It leaves 'el Feroz' dismayed.

One example, explained by Vargas, is Canelo challenging Gennady Golovkin back in May and then vacating his WBC middleweight belt.

"Y'know, just like I think about Canelo - not taking anything away from him.... he's a great fighter - but you're calling out somebody and saying you'll put on the gloves right now, it's like me calling out (Felix) Trinidad and I said he's a great champion and I want to unify the titles with him and I just give up my belt. I don't know...it's a different mindset," Vargas said.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.