Jeison Rosario, battling Lubin tonight, insists KO loss was a fluke
Jeison Rosario is back to prove that he is a much better fighter than the one who got knocked out by Jermell Charlo last year.
The former unified junior middleweight titleholder is nearly 10 months removed from his brutal defeat to the Texas twin, who dropped him three times enroute to a scary eighth-round knockout from a jab to the body that left Rosario convulsing on the canvas at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
But Rosario (20-2-1, 14 KOs) says he believes the loss was merely a twist of fate. That is one of the reasons why the 26-year-old was so eager to jump back into the ring.
Both men look in fine form in terms of physique. But what about technique? Lubin (left) and Rosario battle underneath the Gervonta Davis feature.
Tonight, he faces Erickson Lubin on the Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios pay-per-view undercard at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
“What happened with the Charlo fight, that was the fluke,” Rosario said. “Me winning the titles wasn’t the fluke. And I’m gonna show that I will bounce back from that and, figuratively speaking, get off the canvas and win my next fight. So, I have no problem taking the fight. I don’t feel it was a mistake. This is what we do. We fight. And so, I’m very excited for June 26th. I expect Lubin to bring his best, as do I.”
Lubin (23-1, 16 KOs), a southpaw based in Orlando, Florida, has won five bouts in a row following a first-round knockout to the aforementioned Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs) in October 2017.
However, the 25-year-old is the WBC No. 1 ranked contender for a possible rematch. Charlo takes on Brian Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) for the undisputed junior middleweight world championship July 17 at AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Rosario scored a major upset in January 2020 when he knocked out then-unified titleholder Julian Williams in the fifth round of his homecoming fight in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to lift the WBA and IBF titles that “J Rock” had snagged in his previous bout by outpointing former champion Jarrett Hurd.
Both fighters could have taken a less dangerous fight, but the desire to become a champion weighed too much for them to turn this opportunity down.
In the main event, Baltimore’s Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) moves up two weight classes to face San Antonio’s Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) for a secondary junior welterweight title in their 12 rounds or fewer tilt.
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