Rosado: Lemieux's Not The Favorite, Has Lot To Prove

By Keith Idec

Gabe Rosado hasn’t won a fight in more than two years and is winless as a middleweight.

The tough Philadelphia fighter makes no apologies, however, for his inclusion in an HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event Saturday night. Rosado points to the competitive nature of his middleweight losses to former WBO 160-pound champion Peter Quillin and J’Leon Love as justification for his fight against Canada’s David Lemieux headlining a premium-cable card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I feel that I’ve had controversial decisions,” Rosado said on a recent conference call. “I think the fans spoke up loudly when I fought J’Leon Love, and they all felt that was a fight that I won. And then with Peter Quillin, it was a fight where I honestly felt I was on the verge of getting a knockout. I felt like I had the momentum on my side. I had Quillin on his heels. And it’s a fight that the fans were seeing this and the commentators all had me up in that fight when the fight was stopped. And it got stopped in the championship rounds.”

Rosado (21-8, 13 KOs, 1 NC) lost a split decision to a then-unbeaten Love (18-1, 10 KOs, 1 NC), but the result of their May 2013 fight in Las Vegas was changed to a no-contest once Love failed a post-fight test for using a banned performance-enhancing drug. Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) defeated Rosado by technical knockout because their October 2013 title fight in Atlantic City was stopped following nine rounds due a cut along Rosado’s left eyelid. Despite coming on later in their fight, Rosado trailed Quillin on all three scorecards when it was stopped (90-80, 89-81, 87-83).

The 28-year-old Rosado moved back down to 154 pounds after losing to Quillin, but was thoroughly out-boxed by Jermell Charlo (24-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder Jan. 25 in Washington, D.C. His fight against Lemieux (32-2, 30 KOs) will be the first for Rosado since Charlo beat him.

“When I fought Charlo, I flat out lost to Charlo,” Rosado said. “I think a lot of that had to do with me thinking I could make 154 pounds again and I killed myself to make the weight. But when we’re talking middleweight, the only guy that really beat me legit at middleweight was Gennady Golovkin. But when you look at the Love fight and you look at the Peter Quillin fight, those are the fights that the fans felt like I was winning and so did I. So the fans, they know better and you can’t fool the fans. I think that’s why I’m getting this fight and, honestly, I really don’t feel that Lemieux’s the favorite in this fight.”

The 25-year-old Lemieux has knocked out 88 percent of his professional opponents, yet has plenty to prove. Lemieux lost back-to-back bouts in 2011 to Mexico’s Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51 KOs), who won by seventh-round technical knockout, and Canada’s Joachim Alcine (35-7-2, 21 KOs), who won by majority decision in their 12-rounder.

“Lemieux has something to prove because this is his first fight in America,” Rosado said. “Not too many people know Lemieux. People know what I bring to the table and I think with me having [new trainer] Jesse Reid in my corner now and having a new team and doing training camp in Los Angeles, I think you’re going to see a much better fighter in me and I just can’t wait to prove that on the 6th.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.