MINNEAPOLIS – Nathaniel Gallimore would’ve happily accepted a rematch with Jeison Rosario on short notice.
The veteran middleweight was surprised a Rosario rematch wasn’t proposed to him last week, when Rosario’s original opponent, Yoelvis Gomez, withdrew from their 10-round, 160-pound bout because he suffered an injury to his right wrist while training. Brian Mendoza replaced Gomez, which will leave Gallimore to open Showtime’s three-bout broadcast against undefeated Fiodor Czerkaszyn in another 10-round middleweight match at The Armory.
Gallimore dropped Rosario three times and stopped him in the sixth round of their April 2017 bout in Las Vegas. Rosario re-emerged less than three years later and upset Julian Williams by fifth-round technical knockout to win the IBF, IBO and WBA 154-pound championships, which he lost to Jermell Charlo in his following fight.
“That wasn’t presented to me,” Gallimore told BoxingScene.com when asked about a Rosario rematch after a press conference Thursday at W Minneapolis The Foshay, a hotel near The Armory. “I thought that would’ve made more sense because he didn’t have an opponent. I would’ve filled in. Who wouldn’t have wanted to avenge his first loss? That would’ve made more sense, but it’s a business. He knows that me and him right now don’t make sense. It wasn’t mentioned to me, but if it was, I would’ve jumped on it because I want that spot.”
The Dominican Republic’s Rosario (23-3-1, 17 KOs) is listed by most sportsbooks as more than a 2-1 favorite to beat Albuquerque’s Mendoza (20-2, 14 KOs).
“Gallimore taught me a valuable lesson about what boxing is truly all about,” Rosario told BoxingScene.com. “But if we do meet up in a fight once again, I’m gonna return what he gave me twice as much.”
The 34-year-old Gallimore (22-5-1, 17 KOs), of Des Plaines, Illinois, is focused on knocking off Czerkaszyn (20-0, 13 KOs), who was born and raised in Ukraine before he moved to Poland five years ago. Handicappers have made Czerkaszyn a 4-1 favorite over Gallimore, but Gallimore is clearly the best opponent Czerkaszyn has agreed to fight in seven years as a pro.
“I’ve been to the top, been to the middle and been to the bottom,” Gallimore said. “So, there’s nothing that he’s gonna show me I haven’t already seen. [Beating Czerkaszyn will] just show people that I’m back. My last fight was with [Leon] Lawson III. This fight is just gonna put me up closer to where I need to go. I know that God gave me this opportunity for a reason. So Saturday night, I’ll just prove to the world that I’m back.”
Czerkaszyn-Gallimore will open Showtime’s tripleheader, which is set to start at 9 p.m. ET. After Rosario meets Mendoza in its co-feature, Cuban southpaw David Morrell Jr. (7-0, 6 KOs) will defend his WBA world super middleweight title against Kazakhstan’s Aidos Yerbossynuly (16-0, 11 KOs) in the 12-round main event.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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