Gabriel Rosado withdraws from December 8 bout, waiting on Bundrage shot

Gabriel Rosado has decided to withdraw from a December 8 fight in his native Philadelphia, as he waits to see if he'll get an immediate title shot against Cornelius "K9" Bundrage for the IBF junior middleweight belt.

Rosado (21-5, 13 KO) was set to face Elvin Ayala on NBC Sports that night in a homecoming bout, but with Bundrage (32-4, 19 KO) losing a rumored November 24 HBO fight with Andre Berto, that means the newly-signed Golden Boy fighter needs an opponent. Rosado beat Charles Whittaker in an eliminator bout on September 21.

"After talking things over with my trainer, Billy Briscoe, I have decided to pass on the Dec. 8 fight with Elvin Ayala and wait to see what K9 Bundrage's next move is concerning my chance to fight him for the IBF world title by next March."

Bundrage-Rosado should be an easy enough fight to make, really, but there could be complications. It's highly unlikely that Golden Boy will put one of their fighters on the Main Events/Peltz series on NBC Sports, not because they'd fear bias or anything like that, but because they probably wouldn't want to co-promote that way, and if it gets to that point, they can easily afford to out-spend Main Events on a purse bid.

So that would mean finding Bundrage-Rosado a home on an undercard for a Showtime event, most likely. That could be fairly easy, too, with GBP running four-fight shows routinely on the network. A possible Bundrage-Rosado fight at the Barclays Center in January or February could work for both sides.

Hopefully, the fight does get made. Bundrage is sort of an underdog champion, and Rosado is an underdog challenger. The story of the fight isn't one you see often, and I also expect it would be a good, well-matched bout with plenty of potential for entertainment.

Bryant Jennings will be in the December 8 NBC Sports main event against Bowie Tupou.