Gabriel Rosado has taken on some of the best that boxing has to offer. The native of Philadelphia has fought world champions Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermell Charlo, Peter Quillin and Joshua Clottey.
Rosado (25-12-1, 14 KOs, one no-contest) gets another crack at a marquee name on Friday night when he battles former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs, from Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida, live on DAZN.
Before he steps back into the ring for the first time in 2020, Rosado sat down with DAZN News to discuss the backstory behind the heated rivalry, if he respects Jacobs, and what this fight means for his career.
(Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
DAZN News: This fight has been one year in the making from the confrontation back when you shared a card in December. Did you feel like the fight would ever happen just considering the intense heat between you guys?
Gabriel Rosado: The only thing that made me feel that the fight wasn't going to happen was the pandemic. The fight was supposed to happen back in June. Then the pandemic hit. That changed things around. My only worry was just waiting for the date and seeing what's going to happen with this whole pandemic and if fans would be allowed.
DN: You know, a couple of minutes before we started chatting, I watched the video of you and Daniel in the confrontation in Phoenix. What led to that whole skirmish to the point to where you guys are in each other's faces.
GR: The confrontation was a build-up of are we going to fight or not? It was just not knowing what's going on with what Chavez was going through with his legal matters. The day of the weigh-in is when that confrontation happened. So now he is fighting Chavez, and I'm fighting my opponent. So I really didn't have much to say to him. But then he starts mouthing off to me. So I told him, 'You had the chance to fight me. But you didn't, so why are you talking s—? There's cameras around, and now you want to be a tough guy'? That's really where it came from. I was like, 'Look, it was between Chavez and me. You chose Chavez, so don't sell s— now because there's nothing that can be done. What are we going to do, fight in the back'? I was pretty much telling him to stop frauding and acting like you want to do something. You had your chance to fight me, and you chose Chavez. I just found it funny that he had something to say to me in the back when we couldn't do anything.
DN: Did you lose respect for him after the confrontation? Or was it, you know, you always keep things professional. You're an old school fighter, and you're going to have respect for him either way.
GR: No, not really. I don't respect him as a person. As a fighter, he's a good fighter. As a person, his demeanor, and his character, I don't respect him as a person.
DN: What is it about his character that you're not too fond of?
GR: I just think he's talked down on me. I just find that disrespectful, I always get respect anywhere I go in boxing, and I show respect back. It's just a lack of respect towards me. I will see him as a clown. I feel like he's full of himself.
Dan always wants to talk about, 'Oh, you took all these losses'. But you know, if you look at it, Danny didn't fight anybody coming up. And the moment that he fought one good decent guy, Dmitry Pirog. He got beat. And then he came back and beat a decent fighter and Peter Quillin. A lot of people don't remember Peter Quillin was out of the ring for a while. Peter Quillin was already up there in age. He was older. Other than that, he didn't fight anybody. But then when he fights somebody like Golovkin, who's already past his prime. I fought Golovkin in his prime. He fights a Golovkin past his prime, and Golovkin beats him and even drops him. Then he fights Canelo, and Canelo schools him. So when it comes down to him fighting the A-level guys, he's never beat them. All he's beaten are guys that he's supposed to beat.
When you look at my record, I'm fighting killer after killer after killer. I'm fighting Golovkin. I'm fighting Quillin, Charlo, and I'm fighting all these guys back-to-back. I'm fighting these guys at a time when my experience isn't lacking. It's all a learning process. I feel like at this point in my career, and I can use those losses as an experience to be better. For Jacobs, if he would have taken my route, we wouldn't know who the f— Jacobs is.
DN: Is that where the hashtag dare to be great comes from?
GR: Yeah. That mentality came from the time where I fought Golovkin. I was already ranked No. 1 in the (1)54-pound division. My mandatory was "K9" (Cornelius Bundrage). I was highly favored to beat "K9" for the world title. But then I got offered the Golovkin fight. I didn't have to fight Golovkin. I just wanted to fight Golovkin because it was just one of those things like, 'Dare to be great. I want to fight this guy'. And I did it. That's always been my attitude. When Dan downplays me, and he downplays my record, he's not putting into consideration that no fighter fights the type of opposition I do. It's always, you fight a good fight, and the next fight is maybe a stay busy fight. My attitude is just to bring it on. I feel like I can use that now to my advantage because there's nothing I haven't seen yet. There's nothing that Dan's going to bring to the table that I haven't seen already. It's going to be a great fight.
DN: Since this fight was announced, it feels like this is a battle for respect for you because of things Danny's been saying and the confrontation last year. Do you feel that you're battling for respect coming up on November 27?
GR: I think I'm battling for legacy. I'm battling for putting myself in a position to get a shot at the world title. My mentality is this is about legacy, man. This is about getting this big win and hopefully fighting Callum Smith, (Billy Joe) Saunders, Canelo (or) someone with a title.
DN: What do you make of him saying it's personal because to him, it is personal? Is it personal for you, or do you view him as a stepping stone to a title shot?
GR: It is personal. It is personal because he's rubbed me the wrong way. I think he's underestimating me. I think he's looking past me. I think he's looking at me as a warm-up fight. I just want to flip the script on him and just let him know that he made a mistake.