By Scott Gilfoid: Two time world title challenger Gabriel Rosado (23-10, 13 KOs) says he’s going to turn his next fight against former four time world title Martin Murray (34-4-, 16 KOs) into a war on April 22 at the Ercho Arena in Liverpool. The 34-year-old Murray keeps world title shots over and over despite losing pretty much every time. He’s hoping to get another crack at a world title. At his age, Murray is at the last chance saloon in facing the 31-year-old Rosado. If he loses, it could be the end of Murray’s boxing career.
Murray was recently beaten by George Groves by a 12 round unanimous decision last June in a fight where he did almost nothing on offense. Murray blew his chance of winning the fight when he decided to hide behind his high guard for 12 rounds instead of going on the attack.
“I want to win by knockout. Against Martin Murray you are going to get blood and sweat and it’s going to be a great fight. A war,” said Rosado to skysports.com. “I am not going to run and I am not going to retreat. I am just going to stand in the middle and let my boxing skills and punching power talk.”
Rosado can win this fight just based on work rate, as long as he lets his hands go. Murray doesn’t like to throw a lot of punches. He seems to prefer to hide behind his clam-shell guard for 12 rounds, which is why he’s lost against the big names every time he’s stepped up a level. In Murray’s 11th round knockout loss to middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in 2015, he spoiled for the first 10 rounds in holding and running. Golovkin finally trapped Murray against the ropes in round 11 and bludgeoned
him into submission. It’s likely that Murray will try the same spiing tactics against Rosado if he shows him any kind of offense.
Rosado lost his last fight to Willie Monroe Jr. by a 12 round unanimous decision last September in a mostly one-sided contest. There was an outside chance that Rosado could have earned a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez if he had won the fight. But when Monroe beat him, it erased any chance for a fight against Canelo Alvarez. Golden Boy Promotions didn’t give Monroe a crack at Canelo. I guess Monroe’s tricky style made him a bad option for Canelo, who doesn’t do well against boxers.
“He has more miles; he is older and he’s dropping back down, so I am looking to capitalize on that and give it one more go to get the world title,” said Rosado about Murray.
Murray won his last fight in beating fringe contender Nuhu Lawal by a 12 round unanimous decision last November. Murray didn’t look good in the fight, but Lawal was even worse. It looked like he was putting on gloves for the first time, as he was very average in terms of boxing skills.
On the undercard of the Murray-Rosado fight, super middleweight Rocky Fielding will be facing John Ryder. Also on the card, domestic level heavyweight David Allen will be fighting an opponent still to be determined.