By Jake Donovan
Streaking super welterweight prospect Gabriel “King” Rosado scored a shutout win over in-state rival Keenan Collins in their 10-round main event Friday evening at The Arena in Philadelphia, Penn.
Scores were 100-90 across the board in a bout that headlined a card aired live on Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo Tecate series.
Rosado was never in danger of losing, as evidenced by the clean sweep on the scorecards. Superior boxing skills and slick head movement was enough to get the job done for the Philly fighter, born and bred.
Once upon a time, Collins’ career came with promise and its fair share of well-deserved praise. Somewhere along the way, the York resident and his handlers found comfort in serving as the B-side, with the losses coming at an alarmingly frequent rate after having jumped out to a 12-1-1 start to his career.
In this particular bout, Collins - now 13-7-1, 9KO and just one win in his last nine contests - showed some of the earlier desire, but seemed clueless as to how to adjust. So continues the run for Rosado, who seems to have an easier go of things in the ring than beyond the ropes.
The win makes it four straight for Rosado, who improves to 18-5 (10KO). However, it was the events after his last fight that put his name in headlights.
Hours after scoring a knockout of Ayi Bruce in Atlantic City, Rosado and his friends were arrested after allegedly assaulting a police officer while being escorted out of a casino. The reports from an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia suggested that Rosado split the cop’s lip and instigated a riot with the casino security staff before the incident was finally diffused.
Rosado was charged with aggravated assault and causing a riot. He is due to stand court on October 3 in Atlantic City, though he and his legal team maintain an innocent plea.
Although somewhere between a prospect and fringe contender, Rosado is nevertheless a player these days, one that the industry didn’t see coming. A modest 9-2 (6KO) record was carried into the ring when he faced then-undefeated Jamie Moore in their June ’08 bout on ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights. Rosado showed surprising pop, flooring Moore midway through the bout in a pivotal sequence that propelled him to a shocking points win.
Rosado was invited back to the network, but not for another eight months and once again as the B-side, traveling to the backyard of Fernando Guerrero for their ESPN2-televised main event. The deceptive punching power was again on display, as Rosado floored then-unbeaten Guerrero early in the bout, only to fall behind soon thereafter and drop a tough split decision loss.
Still somehow a secret, Rosado once again snuck up on boxing experts, picking off the remains of Kassim Ouma’s career with a well-earned split decision win. The win earned another payday, only for his 15 minutes of fame to be cut short in a disappointing second-round knockout loss to Alfredo Angulo.
Rosado has since won six of his last seven, although a shocking points loss to Derek Ennis left boxing experts to question whether or not he deserved to carry the prospect label.
In less than a month, an Atlantic City courtroom judge will decide whether or not he deserves to enjoy life away from a jail cell. Where his career goes from there will remain to be seen.
In the televised co-feature, undefeated welterweight prospect Ronald Cruz impressed in front of the cameras with a sixth round stoppage of Chris Fernandez.
Cruz – born in Puerto Rico, but now calls Bethlehem (PA) home – came out raging from the opening bell, looking to make a lasting impression amongst the crowd on hand as well as the televised audience.
He managed to do just that, albeit against a made-to-order opponent in Fernandez (19-14-1, 12KO), who has now lost seven of his last eight contests.
Combination punching rules the day for Cruz, who put Fernandez on the canvas in the fifth round and beat him into submission one round later.
Cruz racks up his fourth win of 2011 – all by knockout – as he improves to 14-0 (11KO). Overall, he has now knocked out seven straight
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.