By Ken Hissner: What do these two Philly boxers Gabe “King” Rosado and Dhafir “No Fear” Smith have in common? You must beat them to enter the top 10 on many occasions.
You cannot judge them by their records but by whom they fight which is tougher opposition than most contenders or shall I say pretenders do.
Rosado, 26-16-1 with 15 stoppages with limited amateur bouts, turned pro in 2006 and has fought 38 opponents with winning records and 8 unbeaten.
Rosado’s ratio is against something like over 300+ wins and less than 50 losses. He’s been in with such boxers as
Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin, then 24-0, in NY, where I attended rooting for my favorite boxer today against Gabe, who held his own before losing. He passed up a possible eliminator for a super welterweight title fight, thinking if he beat GGG, he would get more recognition.
Other with records when Rosado fought them though losing are Ali Akhmedov, 18-1, Shane Mosley, Jr., 17-4 Jamie Munguia, 37-0, Daniel “Chosen One” Jacobs, 36-3 by split decision, Maciej Sulecki, 27-1, Martin Murray, 34-4-1, Willie Monroe, Jr., 22-2, David Lemieux, 32-2, Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo, 22-0, Peter Quillan, 29-0, J’Leon Love, 15-0 (nc result), Derek “Pooh” Ennis, 21-2-1, Alfredo Angulo,15-1, Fernando Guerrero, 12-0 and Luis Arias 18-1 a draw.
Rosado defeated Bektemir Melikuziev, 7-0, Humberto Ochoa, 33-8-2, Glen Tapia, 23-4, Ayi Bruce, 20-3, Jose Velazquez, 20-1-1, Joshua Clottey, 39-4, Charles Whittaker, 38-12, Sechew Powell, 26-4, Jose Soto Karass. 24-6-3, Saul Roman, 32-5, Kassim Ouma, 26-5-1, and James Moore, 15-0.
Can you imagine a top ten contender having this kind of opposition, whether in super welterweight, middleweight, or super middleweight, the divisions he has fought in? At 37, he is still active. Billy Briscoe and Freddy Roach have been his trainers. His manger is Vincent Scolpino. He turned pro in 2001.
Smith, 28-26-7 with four stoppages with one of the best jabs in the business, is mostly known for the training camps he has been in with like two with world champions like Gennadiy “GGG”Golovkin, Andre “G.O.D” Ward, Artur Beterbiev and Lucian Bute.
Smith said Ward and Golovkin would be a close one and that Beterbiev was the hardest puncher and Golovkin hit like a heavyweight.
Smith’s losses were to Anthon Caputo Smith, 13-1 by split decision, Umberto Savigne, 9-1, Marco Periban, 14-0, Cornelius White, 16-1, Jesus Gonzalez 26-1, Jerson Ravelo, 18-3, Kingsley Ikeke, 23-3 by split decision, Adonis Stevenson, 10-0, Andre Ward, 11-0, Curtis Stevens, 14-1, Mike Paschall, 10-0 to a draw, Henry Buchanan, 11-0, Wayne Johnson 8-0, David Kosteck, 15-0, Artur Shekhmurzov, 10-0-1, Sergey Karanevech, 15-8, Ian Gardner, 12-1, Larry Marks, 29-9 a draw, Nick Cook, 14-1 a draw, and Dennis Sharpe, 13-0-1, He was 9-1-2 in his first dozen fights.
Smith defeated Anthony Ferrante, 12-3, Jeff Lacy, 25-3, his biggest win, John Johnson, 12-1, Jonathan Reid, 34-6, Brandon Mitchem, 25-4-1, Kippy Warren, 17-5-2 and Henry Mayes, 5-0.
These two Philly boxers have fought in 3 and four divisions just to keep busy. Buster Custus trains Smith at the James Shuler Gym in North Philly. The minor titles he has won are the WBF All-American Light Heavyweight, UBO International Super Middleweight, and Pennsylvania State Light Heavyweight titles.
Both Rosado and Smith could be in the top ten if they had opponents like most contenders today.