Daniel Jacobs realizes there are more meaningful, appealing fights for him at super middleweight than boxing Gabe Rosado.
Jacobs just can’t get Rosado out of his mind at the moment. The former IBF and WBA middleweight champion wants to silence Rosado, with whom Jacobs had a confrontation after the weigh-in for his technical-knockout victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on December 20 in Phoenix.
Rosado was promoter Eddie Hearn’s backup opponent for Jacobs in case Chavez withdrew from that super middleweight match on short notice. Chavez came in nearly five pounds above the super middleweight maximum of 168 pounds, but Jacobs fought him anyway.
Mexico’s Chavez (51-4-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC) declined to continue following the fifth round of a scheduled 12-rounder against Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs).
Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Rosado has managed to get under Jacobs’ skin by continually calling for their fight.
“As far as right now, it’s this little, little weasel that is in my little spine and that I can’t get out,” Jacobs told Hearn during an Instagram Live interview Monday. “And his name is Gabe Rosado. He’s been annoying the hell out of me. Lord have mercy, this guy, man. So, I don’t know. I don’t know where my next fight might be, but …”
The 34-year-old Rosado (25-12-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) beat Mexican veteran Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa (33-9-2, 22 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder on the Jacobs-Chavez card. Rosado hopes to fight Jacobs next, once the coronavirus pandemic ends and fights can be scheduled.
Jacobs’ June return has been pushed back indefinitely due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Brooklyn native acknowledged that fighting Rosado intrigues him because their beef has become personal.
“I just think it’s a little envy and it’s a little jealousy,” Jacobs said. “You know, I remember him saying something as far as when I was commentating, trying to say I’m trying to be a fake Andre Ward. But I’m a versatile man. I can do many things. You know, and I think that because he’s a gatekeeper, I think, you know, it doesn’t sit well with him because we all came up together. And for me to surpass him the way that I am and the way that his career has gone, he has to go other routes to get a fight.
“And what fans don’t understand, you know, we all wanna do it for the fans, as far as picking the best fights. But sometimes there’s the personal fights that you wanna be able to get out. And it’s gonna make a good fight as well, so for me, I’m just looking at this fight, you know, like lamb chops right now, cuz he’s food.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.