By David Pr. Greisman

Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City - - Gabriel Rosado’s hard luck 2013 continued on Saturday night with a technical knockout loss to middleweight titleholder Peter Quillin.

Rosado seemed to be finding some success against Quillin, walking him down, pressing him against the ropes and landing punches. Yet Quillin landed a shot that opened a cut over Rosado’s left eye in the 10th round, a gash bad enough that the referee called in the ringside physician, who waved off the bout.

The end came 40 seconds into the round. And Quillin was far ahead on the scorecards: the judges had it 90-80, 89-81 and 87-83 at the time.

It was Quillin who was the aggressor in the opening rounds, an approach that allowed him to score a knockdown in the second round with a right hand followed by a left hook. Rosado didn’t appear to be badly hurt, but he did seem to take notice of what had happened. He also knew what he’d need to do to keep it from happening again.

Rosado began to come forward himself, making Quillin box and move. And in the fourth, Quillin got caught and hurt with a counter right hand. Suddenly Quillin wasn’t moving backward by choice, but out of a need to survive. He made it to the end of the round, and then Rosado let him off the hook in the fifth, dropping his gloves, taunting Quillin and doing little to capitalize on his recent success.

Rosado continued to press, yet he wasn’t landing often. CompuBox had him average 8 landed shots out of 32 thrown per round, far less than the middleweight average of 18 of 57. Quillin wasn’t overly active himself, averaging 9 landed for every 37 thrown.

“I was walking him down and backing him up with the jab,” Rosado said afterward. “I knew I was hurting him. He knew he was getting hurt, and they stopped it. I knew the key was to keep him up against the ropes. We deserve a rematch. This is the story of my life.”

Rosado, 27, of Philadelphia, is a former junior middleweight prospect who has spent his 2013 fighting at 160. In January, he lost a technical knockout to titleholder Gennady Golovkin. In May, he came up short in a disputed split decision against prospect J’Leon Love, though that result was overturned after Love tested positive for a banned diuretic. Rosado is now 21-7 with 13 KOs and 1 no contest.

Quillin, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., made the second defense of a title he won against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in October 2012. He is now 30-0 with 22 KOs.

“It wasn’t easy, but I earned every bit of it,” Quillin said afterward. “I was dedicated to defending my title. I worked hard. I’m ready to fight anybody they put in front me: [Sergio] Martinez, [Alfredo] Angulo, whatever it be, let it be. I’ll defend my title against anybody, even my own mother. I’m just thankful to have the victory and to fight at this level.”