Gabriel Rosado: Maciej Sulecki isn’t beating me in Philadelphia

Veteran middleweight Gabriel Rosado returns to the ring tonight on DAZN, returning to his hometown of Philadelphia to face Maciej Sulecki in a middleweight clash on the Farmer-Carroll undercard.

Rosado (24-11-1, 14 KO) is a well-known scrapper, having taken on a lot of notable names over the years. He was never a coddled prospect, instead learning on the job as a pro fighter, going from a pedestrian 14-5 start to his career to dates with the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Jermell Charlo, David Lemieux, Peter Quillin, and Martin Murray, among other notable fighters at 154 and 160.

Generally speaking, he’s come up short in his bigger fights. In his last outing, he went to a draw with Luis Arias on Nov. 17. And now at 33, he’s in a spot against Sulecki (27-1, 11 KO) where he may be getting what amounts to a final chance at glory.

The Rosado-Sulecki winner is expected to face WBO middleweight titleholder Demetrius Andrade in June.

“I’m in a great situation with this fight. Everyone had me winning the fight with Arias, that’s why Eddie Hearn gave me this shot against Maciej,” Rosado said. “He’s a world-class fighter, he comes to fight with a high volume of punches, I thought he gave (Daniel) Jacobs a great fight, I scored it 7-5 and it was close.

“His style of fighting and competitive nature is going to bring the best out of me, there’s going to come a time in the fight where it’s going to be a battle of wills, and he’s not going to out-will me in my backyard, in front of my family. That’s not happening.

“This card is lit and this is a really good fight. It’s my first time in seven years that I am fighting in Philly so I am really excited about that, when I fight in my home town, I turn up. Going into the Arias fight I had been off for a year and only had a five week camp. I did what I did from just being a vet.

“But now I am coming in off the fight in November, we have a flow going, the camp started right away and everything has been smooth. I am capable of putting my foot on the gas and sitting on my shots in this fight.”