Gabe Rosado explained why he lost to Shane Mosely Jr as he prepares for a comeback against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.
The pair fight live on DAZN on March 18 in the Puerto Rican’s first fight at light heavyweight.
Rosado has lost his last three fights, with a defeat against Mosely bookended by a loss to Jaime Munguia and most recently Ali Akhmedov.
The fighter continues to pull in big names for his resume, with a 26-16-1 (15 KOs) record so far, and moving up to 175lbs could help extend his career further, especially if he scores a surprise win over his former sparring partner.
The 37-year-old believes that he thrives when he is the underdog, pointing to complacency against Mosely as the reason for his slack performance.
He told The DAZN Boxing Show of his new approach: “I just think it’s the heart and the will to keep trying, not being discouraged, have a short-term memory. Keep pushing.
“It’s just me being honest with myself, it’s funny because when I went on that run and I knocked out [Bektemir Melikuziev], then I had that great fight vs. Munguia at middleweight, I had that drive, I was hungry, on a mission.
”Then it’s funny, I don’t know how to explain it, once I became the A side against Mosely, I’m human man, so you make that mistake. You can’t make that error of overlooking somebody when you’re fighting a great fighter.
“You kinda breeze through camp and that’s dangerous.
“Freddie [Roach] was honest with me, but I was in Puerto Rico, I was in PR too long. For the camp I had a month, I stretched my stay too long and I had to play catch-up. Freddie was trying to get me going, but it was hard. I did that to myself.”