Gabriel Rosado expects the crowd to roll with Jaime Munguia heading into their showdown this weekend.
That’s not to say he views the matter as heading into enemy territory.
The anticipated middleweight clash headlines a DAZN telecast, airing live Saturday evening from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The event takes place roughly two hours from Munguia’s Tijuana hometown and with a predominantly Mexican crowd on hand in support of the unbeaten former WBO junior middleweight titlist.
Energy levels figure to be high, especially with the anticipation of a can’t miss action fight, along with the Mexico versus Puerto Rico theme as Philadelphia’s Rosado is of Puerto Rican descent. The entertainment value expected to come of the fight should leave the night without a villain and a greater appreciation for the veteran trialhorse.
“Mexican fans are smart fans. They appreciate the guys that leave it all in the ring, put it all on the line,” Rosado told BoxingScene.com. “It will be mainly his fan base, Tijuana’s not too far so I expect the crowd to be on his side at the start.
“But I think when it’s all said and done, they’re gonna go crazy when I get the knockout win.”
It’s a bold prediction made by Rosado (26-13-1, 15KOs), though in line with the achievement that landed him the fight. The 35-year-old Philly native—who is now based out of Los Angeles and trains out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood—scored perhaps the biggest win of his 15-year-career in a sensational one-punch, third-round knockout of unbeaten Bektemir Melikuziev this past June 19 in El Paso, Texas.
Rosado’s highlight reel knockout came as the co-feature of a DAZN show headlined by Munguia (37-0, 30KOs) dismantling former title challenger Kamil Szeremeta in six rounds. The pair of wins generated momentum for a head-on collision between the two, serving as Rosado’s first fight at middleweight since March 2019 and just his second career fight in his new home state of California where he will feel right at home on Saturday.
“I moved to LA in 2014,” notes Rosado. “Los Angeles is home now. The Mexican fans here embrace me. I get a lot of love by the Mexican fans out here. A lot of my friends out here are Mexican. I’m in the mix with the culture. I be going to corrido shows out here. I never heard corridos in my life prior to moving out here. Next thing you know I’m going to those shows, going to cookouts eating all types of Mexican foods, listening to bandas.
“It’s a beautiful culture and I embrace it. I believe that at some point in the fight, the fans will embrace me.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox