Ishe Smith, left, attacking Cornelius Bundrage this past weekend in Detroit, Michigan during his title-winning victory…

By Chris Robinson

This past weekend in Detroit, Michigan, Las Vegas native Ishe Smith finally realized his full potential in wrestling the IBF junior middleweight title away from Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage after twelve rounds of action.

Despite the scorecards ending up with a split-decision verdict, Smith clearly was the victor, as evidenced by his grit, fortitude, and better work rate over the second half of the fight.

One man who was certainly a curious spectator was junior middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado.

Rosado is a month removed from a bloody and brave showing against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in New York. Despite ultimately suffering a loss that evening, as his corner elected to call the action largely due to a pair of cuts above his eye, Rosado is still upbeat about his future aspirations and is adamant on facing the best at 154 pounds.

Continue reading below for some highlights from my conversation with the Philadelphia native…

Watching Ishe Smith defeat Cornelius Bundrage…
“It was an OK fight. I felt K9 was real slow. I thought Ishe was probably a little too tense. I mean, he did enough to pull the fight out. I thought he fought a little tense, but he did what he had to do. He got the win.”

More than willing to face Smith…
“Of course. Anyone that has a title is definitely a fight I would want. Because, I definitely want to capture a world title. But I’d definitely like to get that fight. There was a fight where I turned my #1 eliminator fight [Gennady Golovkin], and he ended up getting the K9 fight. I felt it was a mistake on K9’s part, fighting Smith. I had Smith winning that fight when I first found out they were going to fight. But I definitely like that fight.”

Reflecting on his time in the ring with Gennady Golovkin…
“You know, I felt that fight was just a situation where I got cut so early in the fight. It wasn’t just one cut; it was two cuts on the same eye. It just made it that much worse. I feel that he’s not hype. He is the real deal. I felt like it could have been a different type of fight if I wasn’t pretty fighting blind with so much blood. Because, [Golovkin] usually hits guys and they are out. I felt like he was fading a little bit, but as he was fading, the blood was just a little too much. To the point where I couldn’t see. I think if I didn’t have to go through that, I think the outcome would have been different. Because the whole thing was to come on strong in the later rounds, because he probably was throwing so many shots in the beginning of the fight.”

(Rosado, pictured left, before he duel with Gennady Golovkin last month)

A bittersweet feeling…
“But it’s just the way things happen. And the fans appreciate my effort and they saw I was fighting through the blood and wouldn’t quit. It’s a fight where even though I lost it’s kind of bittersweet, because I got a lot of respect from the fans. And I don’t think it’s a fight that hurt me. I’ll be back stronger than ever. Everything happens for a reason.”

Thoughts on a proposed Saul Alvarez-Austin Trout showdown on May 4th…
“I would like Austin Trout to win that fight, because Trout’s the underdog. I’m the underdog, so I’m always rooting for the underdog. If I had to bet on it, I would put my money on Canelo. But I’m rooting for Trout. But there are things that I saw in the Cotto fight that Cotto pulled off that a younger, strong fighter in Canelo was going to take advantage of. Cotto was just a bit off, slow; he seemed a little bit washed up. Not the same Cotto from the past. I feel like a guy like Canelo is definitely going to take advantage of the mistakes that Austin Trout made in the fight with Cotto. And I feel that Austin Trout is definitely the harder puncher. The key to that fight is, I see Trout giving him a little trouble in the early fight, then I see Canelo closing the distance and landing that left hook to the body and slowing Trout down.”

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Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com and www.HustleBoss.com