It’s a classic crossroads matchup Saturday night when Austin Trout and Terrell Gausha square off in a super welterweight showdown on PBC on FS1.
On Saturday night, former world super welterweight champion Austin Trout meets one-time world title challenger Terrell Gausha in a do-or-die fight for both as they attempt to climb back into the world title mix.
The 10-round 154-pound fight headlines a PBC on FS1 card (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) live from Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Trout (31-5, 17 KOs) has been there, done that, with a win over future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto and a disputed loss to current world middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. But those occurred more than six years ago; Trout is just 5-4 without a win over a top ten opponent since. Still, he was competitive in losses world champions and twin brothers, Jermall and Jermell. Even his October 2017 defeat to Jarrett Hurd was close at the time champion Hurd stopped him.
At 33, Trout's career is winding down. A loss at the hands of Gausha would likely put the nail in the coffin on his hopes of becoming world champion again. Realizing this, Trout has taken a new approach to training camp this time around. The Las Cruces, New Mexico-based fighter journeyed to Las Vegas to work with Floyd Mayweather Sr. – though longtime trainer Louie Burke will join the team in the corner in Biloxi. He also added veteran strength and conditioning coach Rob Garcia; whom Trout says has been a big boon for him.
"It's going well in Vegas, I feel good, I feel strong," Trout told the El Paso Times. "Rob has been a great asset to me during my time here. He's helped me in many ways from conditioning to my mental approach to the fight game. Rob has been easy to work with and he's helped me. Sparring has gone well and I'm looking forward to the fight on May 25."
Trout refers to this pairing with Mayweather Sr. and Garcia as a reinvention. Many fighters climbing back from losses try and change things up, with mixed results. Mayweather Sr. is no stranger to reclamation projects. Following two controversial defeats to Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley in 1999 and 2000, Oscar De La Hoya chose Mayweather Sr. as his trainer. The pair went 5-2 together the rest of the way.
On the other side of things is Gausha (21-1, 0 KOs), just two years younger than Trout but with a lot less miles on his professional boxing track record. The 2012 U.S. Olympian took five years to get his lone world title opportunity against Erislandy Lara in October 2017. Lara outboxed Gausha en route to a unanimous decision.
Gausha has only boxed one round in the nineteen months since – a first-round knockout of Joey Hernandez last December.
"After the loss, I'm coming back with vengeance," Gausha said on FOX's PBC Face to Face episode with Trout. "Me and Austin Trout have some business to take care of. He called me out, I want to knock him out."
Gausha said going into the Lara fight, he might have been blinded by the fact that he was an undefeated former Olympian.
"I was more so thinking about not losing instead of winning," Gausha said. “Now I can be more comfortable I got that out the way. I can be myself. Right after that I bounced back strong with a first-round knockout."
The 154-pound division is a crowded one, and one of the sport's most interesting currently. Earlier this month, Hurd, the division's consensus top fighter, had his WBA and IBF titles wrested away by once-beaten Philly native Julian Williams in a Fight of the Year candidate on FOX.
Jermell Charlo and Tony Harrison have a rematch scheduled for June 23 on FOX to settle the score following Harrison's hotly disputed win in December. They'll clash for the WBC title at super welterweight. If either Trout or Gausha want to make a statement they deserve another crack at a belt, they not only have to win, they need to win impressively.
For a closer look at Trout vs Gausha, check out our fight night page.
