Junior middleweights Gabriel Rosado, of Philadelphia, PA, and Charles Whittaker, of the Cayman Islands, will battle for the No. 1 spot in the IBF rankings on Friday evening, Sept. 21, at the Event Center of the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.
The Rosado-Whittaker bout has been added to the NBC Sports Network Fight Night Series card, which already includes: light-heavyweights Gabriel Campillo, of Madrid, Spain, against Sergey Kovalev, of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 10 rounds; welterweights Ronald Cruz, of Bethlehem, PA, against Antwone Smith, of Miami, FL, 12 rounds. The NBC Broadcast will begin at 9PM ET.
Main Events, which is promoting the Sept. 21 card with Peltz Boxing and Sampson Boxing, won a purse bid on July 26 for the right to promote Rosado vs. Whittaker and added the match to the Sept. 21 card.
The winner of the Rosado-Whittaker fight will become the mandatory challenger for IBF world champion Cornelius Bundrage, of Detroit, MI.
Rosado, 26, earned the No. 3 slot in the IBF ratings this year with knockout victories over Jesus Soto-Karass, of Mexico, and over Sechew Powell, of Brooklyn, NY. The win over Powell topped the June 1 card in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the 2,000-seat Event Center at the Sands.
A pro since 2006, Rosado has a 20-5 record, 12 K0s. He has won his last six fights and also has defeated ex-IBF champ Kassim Ouma, of Uganda, and contender Saul Roman, of Mexico.
Whittaker, 38, is 38-12-2, 23 K0s, since turning pro in 1993. He gained the No. 2 slot in the IBF by beating Keenan Collins, of Reading, PA, and Giorbis Barthelemy, of Cuba. He currently holds the USBA title at 154 pounds.
