By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com recently spoke with middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado (22-9) on a conference call about his upcoming fight. Rosado faces Antonio Gutierrez (20-1) Saturday at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. In the HBO televised main event, Francisco Vargas will defend the WBC super featherweight title against former WBO beltholder Orlando Salido.
Rosado admitted that at first it was hard to take a fight off television but feels it will benefit him in the long run to get another fight under his belt with trainer Fernando Vargas.
"At first the fight bothered me because the last 4-5 years I have been fighting on HBO or Showtime or pay-per-view and now to fight on an undercard - this is the type of fight to get me going and keep me going so that I am more comfortable going into a big fight. I think if everything goes well it will put me in position to do even better when I get a big fight," explained Rosado.
There has been a lot of talk lately of Rosado potentially facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. should everything go well against Gutierrez. The fight would be scheduled for a maximum weight of 168 pounds but with Chavez's history of having trouble making weight it is possible that the fight could end taking place at over 170 pounds. Rosado said he wouldn't really be worried if Chavez missed weight.
"Nah man. I am not as small as people think. The middleweight division is getting difficult to make. it is not easy. I would rather not fight under 160 because it is just difficult. I fought Clottey at a catchweight at 158 and won by unanimous decision but I felt I could have performed better," Rosado told BoxingScene.com.
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