Gabriel Rosado: Road to the Title (Video)

Gabriel Rosado faces Charles Whittaker in the main event on the NBC Sports Network this Friday night at 9 pm EDT, with a shot at the IBF junior middleweight title on the line.

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"I started boxing at 18, and I turned pro quick, like, with only 11 amateur fights. Which is crazy. I got in fights that were probably fights that I wasn't ready for at the time. Guys that were a lot more experienced than me. Those losses, man, they made me stronger, they made me wiser. They helped me grow up.

"There's a saying in boxing that says when a fighter loses, he learns how to lose. I flipped the script. My losses taught me how to win. That's just the mindset I have now. I'm proud of my record, man, because not too many guys have taken Ls and put themselves in the situation I'm in now so quick, and being so young, and have made the transition that I have in my career.

"If you look at me fighting two years ago, and you look at me fighting now, it's two different fighters. It's just two completely different fighters. My body's different. I'm stronger, and my boxing IQ. So I think a lot of people are peeping that, and it impresses them, because it's, like, you know, he really changed his game around."

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Rosado has already gone 2-0 on the network's boxing series, with wins earlier this year over Jesus Soto Karass and Sechew Powell. Bad Left Hook will have live round-by-round coverage of the show on Friday.