CARSON, California – Former middleweight contender, “King” Gabriel Rosado hopes he can advance himself out of his current fringe status with a good performance on Saturday night.

Rosado spoke with RingTV.com at a Golden Boy Promotions media workout Wednesday afternoon at the Fabela Chavez Boxing Center – just a few miles away from the Stub Hub Center where he will fight Antonio Gutierrez on the undercard of the Francisco Vargas-Orlando Salido junior lightweight title bout (HBO; 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT).

“I’m definitely excited to fight in from of the L.A. fans,” said Rosado, still sweaty from the workout he performed for the cameras. “I think my L.A. fans are probably my biggest supporters. Big fan base, always showing me love, always getting mobbed when I go to the fights, so I just appreciate the L.A. fans, and I’m excited to fight in front of them.”

A majority of those fans in Los Angeles are of Mexican dissent, and whenever there is a boxing event held at the Stub Hub Center, you can find both parties enjoying classic cards held at the 8,000-plus seat tennis court arena.

“I think they respect warriors,” said Rosado, who will perform in Los Angeles for the first time. He added, “It doesn’t hurt when you have a Mexican warrior as a trainer, Fernando Vargas, so I see why they’re drawn to me.”

Rosado (22-9, 13 knockouts), a Puerto Rican from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, inherited the warrior-like mentality from the fighters that city is known for. Yet, fighting in this manner is bequeathed with plenty of drawbacks, and Rosado has certainly seen the effects.

It wasn’t too long ago Rosado, 30, was riding a three-year span where his hand wasn’t raised after a boxing ring. It all started in January of 2013 when he stepped up from the junior middleweight division to contend for a world title, and ran into the current middleweight kingpin, Gennady Golovkin. Rosado never hit the canvas against “GGG”, but was beat to a bloody pulp, and toward the end of the seventh round, his corner threw in the towel. Rosado was cut badly over his eyes in that fight, and in a 2013 fight with Peter Quillin – his second shot at a world title – a cut over Gabe’s left eye abruptly ended a fight in which he had gained all momentum.

After the cut reared it’s ugly head in a unanimous decision loss to Jermell Charlo in January 2014, Rosado got an operation to remove scar tissue above his eyes. He then proceeded to win, but it wasn’t in a boxing ring. Rosado knocked out Bryan Vera in the pit of what was Big Knockout Boxing’s project, but followed it up with a draw to Curtis Stevens in the same arena. The fights were fun, but the venture failed to grab the attention of the public. Rosado was still presented with a big fight upon his return, however, he was stopped by David Lemieux late in the fight. This time, Rosado wasn’t cut, but the left eye swelled up bad enough to warrant a stoppage of the beating he was taking.

That’s when Rosado moved out West and found Vargas.

“It’s a great relationship because it’s more than just boxing – it’s a friendship,” said Rosado about Vargas. “He truly cares about his fighter, he truly cares about me, and I believe in him. Whatever advice he gives me, I take it to heart. He knows what it takes to get to the top.” With Vargas in his corner, Rosado then went on to convincingly beat Joshua Clottey last December in a unanimous decision, effectively ending the three year drought of victory in the ring.

“I got the monkey off my back,” said Rosado about the three year span when it was brought to his attention. He added, “Now I just want to kinda keep the momentum going, and rack this win. God willing, put myself in position to fight a big name on a big card.” As to if he’d move up to 168-pounds in order to get that big fight, Rosado responded, “It depends. I’m definitely growing. It’s a little more difficult to make the weight, but I can still make it. I still feel like I have unfinished business at the middleweight division. If the right fight presents itself at 168, I’d move up, but right now, I have to stay focused on Antonio.”

Virtually unknown to those outside of Tijuana, Mexico, Antonio Gutierrez (20-1-1, 9 KOs), isn’t exactly a threat for Rosado, but from experience comes wisdom for “King” Gabe.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for him. He’s 21, I know what it is to be 21, I know what it is to go up against a name,” said Rosado about Gutierrez, who is actually fresh off his 22nd birthday. “I remember going up against Kassim Ouma – my first ten-rounder – this is his first ten-rounder. I remember thinking this win right here is gonna be a big deal, and I won that fight in a split-decision. I remember the mentality I had going into that fight, so I’m not taking this kid lightly. This is like a world title fight for him, it puts him in a big position, so I can’t overlook this guy and think they got me a duck. This is probably him at his best.”

When followed up with the question of what advice he’d give Gutierrez having lived through it, Rosado laughingly said, “I’ll tell you after the fight.” After thinking about, and while the next question was being asked, Rosado had his answer.

“I’ll tell you what though, it does’t matter what advice I’d give him because you can’t teach experience,” Rosado said. “At the end of the day, he could have Julio Cesar Chavez in his corner, it don’t mean nothin’. Experience takes it’s course, you have to go through shit. He hasn’t been through what I’ve been through to understand that level. He’s never been past six rounds, what’s gonna happen if I don’t knock him out in those six rounds and we’re going into the seventh? He doesn’t know what it’s like going into the seventh, into the eighth, the ninth – he doesn’t know how to breathe going into those rounds. You can’t teach experience.”

Rosado-Gutierrez won’t make the HBO telecast Saturday night, but it will be the penning fight of the international broadcast, and can be seen live on ringtvlive.com.