Originally posted by Gordon_Gekko
View Post
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Gabriel Rosada
Collapse
-
-
-
-
-
Rosado up for the challenge of taking on Golovkin
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/..._Golovkin.html
Bernard Fernandez, For the Daily News
In competitive athletics, much is always uncertainty. But there is one thing that absolutely can be presumed as true.
North Philadelphia's "King" Gabriel Rosado, whose hoops experience was mostly limited to neighborhood pickup games, was not destined to make it in the NBA.
Still, fondness of basketball nearly ended Rosado's boxing career before it had a chance to begin. As he prepared for the biggest bout of that career last week at the Harrowgate Boxing Club in Port Richmond, Rosado (21-5, 13 KOs), who challenges WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KOs) on Saturday night as part of an HBO-televised tripleheader in New York's Madison Square Garden, reflected on that curious turn of events 8 years ago.
"I walked in the gym [the Rivera Recreation Center] and the man in charge told me I was too old to start boxing," Rosado, then 18, said of his initially rebuffed attempt to check out a sport that had always interested him. "I had a basketball under my arm and he told me I should keep working on my jump shot, or something like that. So I turned around and walked out."
Fortunately for Rosado, trainer Billy Briscoe was standing nearby, instructing someone else, and he had a different mindset than the person who had just turned Rosado away. Most of what Briscoe knows about boxing he learned from the late, great Philly trainer Wesley Mouzon. He helped guide an ex-convict with no amateur boxing experience, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, to world light-heavyweight and cruiserweight championships. Like Mouzon, Briscoe believes that all those who want to become a fighter at least should be afforded the opportunity to find out whether fulfillment of their pugilistic dreams is at least somewhat feasible.
"Anyone who wants to try ought to be given the chance," said Briscoe, who chased down Rosado on the street and told him to come back the next day. "But being given the chance and sticking with it are two different things. Boxing has a way of weeding out the wannabes.
Comment
Comment