Gabriel Rosado wants to silence Daniel Jacobs after claiming that his rival was disrespectful to him ahead of their November 27 fight.
Rosado last fought in December 2019 against Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa and has spent the bulk of lockdown preparing for his next fight, whenever that would come.
He explained to DAZN's Todd Grisham, “I feel great, excited, great camp. We made it work, had great sparring.
“It works out for camp because once you’re done at the gym you have to go home. It’s strictly business.”
The 34-year-old Philadelphian has been critical of Jacobs in the run-up to the fight, with his rival regarding him as a ‘tune-up’ before a title fight. However, Rosado does not think his opponent will be an easy fight.
“It has nothing to do with his accomplishments and him as a fighter. I think he’s a good fighter.
“I think a lot of it has to do with when he came down to interviews, and my name came up, he talked down on me and showed no respect. For him to talk down my path, I took it as an insult and I want to shut him up.”
The pair both turned professional a year apart, with Rosado’s first fight in 2006 and Jacobs’ in 2007. Rosado has fought twice for middleweight championships without success, while Jacobs has held a belt in the division twice. He does not believe that looking at their respective careers tells the whole story.
“On paper, you can say what you want,” he said.
“You can look at the guys I fought coming up. It’s a crazy schedule, it’s world champions. There’s no tune-up fights in between. It was GGG (Gennadiy Golovkin) ... Jermell Charlo.
“Jacobs was groomed differently. When it came down to the big fights, he didn’t beat GGG, and it wasn’t a prime GGG. I fought a prime GGG and it got stopped on cuts — I didn’t get knocked out. He beat me on experience.”
Despite Jacobs’ superior paper track record, Rosado is undaunted by his rival. Asked if he would prefer a streetfight, he said: “He’s not winning that and he’s not winning in the ring.
“There are fights that come down to skill. He turned pro in 2007, I turned pro in 2006., we have the same mileage.
“This comes down to who wants it the most. He’ll have his moments, I’ll have my moments. This is a 12-rounder, not an eight-rounder. There are periods in the fight where it’s gonna get deep.
“There’s different switches in fights. Danny is not a one-dimensional type of fighter. He can make adjustments, so can I. I can brawl, I can apply the pressure.
“I’m going to dictate the pace. It’s a fight where I have to bring it to him. He’s not a come forward type of guy and he’s not really good at it. He comes forward on the back leg, he really wants to counter. I’m going for all of it. It’s a must-win fight for me.
“I’m looking at Danny as I know the next fight will be a world title.”