By Jake Donovan
Gabe Rosado and Curtis Stevens are two fighters who never shy away from a challenge, even if it means going in as a prohibitive underdog against a monster like Gennady Golovkin. It was hardly a surprise that they agreed to face each other, though with a twist as their April 4 clash at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas comes under the auspices of Big Knockout Boxing (BKB) rather than a traditional boxing match.
BKB made its debut last August, with Rosado scoring a thrilling knockout over Bryan Vera in the headlining act. The bout served as Rosado’s lone win since September ’12, though it doesn’t count against his official record in boxing, where he is winless in his last five starts.
In addition to the confidence booster he gained with the knockout win over Vera last summer, Rosado gains a leg up on any other boxer looking to give BKB a try. The Philly native believes it to be a key factor heading into his upcoming showdown with Stevens.
“You can definitely put the experience factor on my side, performing in BKB already,” Rosado mentioned during a recent conference call to promote the event. “I’m familiar with the ring. I’m just familiar with the surroundings of it.
“But, at the end of the day, being a true fighter, once the bell rings, you kind of lose yourself in the fight. You don’t think too much of it; at least I didn’t. Once the bell rung, it didn’t feel no different. I just had to fight.”
Stevens makes his BKB debut in the April 4 headliner, and is still familiarizing himself with the differences from the world of boxing he’s breathed, eaten and lived for the past 10+ years. So far he likes what he’s discovered, and believes the format to be perfectly suited to his stalking in-ring style.
“BKB is just two minutes. Regular boxing is three minutes. So, when I heard it was two minutes, I’m like, oh, it’s just like the amateur days - you get in, you get out,” Stevens believes. “So, I think that’s just going to rewind me back into time when I was 17, 16, 15 (years old). You just got to get in there and just put the pain on them. There ain’t much more to do.”
Ever the BKB veteran, Rosado felt the need to correct his forthcoming opponent.
“It’s not like the amateurs. It’s nothing like the amateurs,” Rosado quipped at the claim.
The bout will headline an independent Pay-Per-View telecast.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
