Monroe Jr has challenged for a world title before, having taken on unbeaten Kazakh fighter Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in 2015, but has yet to get his hands on a belt.
But he will fight for the WBO middleweight title at the Copper Box in London on Saturday when he faces reigning champion Saunders.
Monroe Jr is hoping to earn a rematch against Golovkin with a win, assuming the knockout merchant comes through his massive middleweight clash with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez hours after the London fight.
And he arrived in the UK boosted by having been present at the birth of his daughter, one of the few to have been benefitted by Hurricane Irma.
“We went to get on a flight [to London] on Tuesday – they said: ‘Because of the hurricane, your flight is delayed until tomorrow’,” Monroe Jr said.
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“Which means I got here almost a day-and-a-half later.
“I’ve got a baby girl – my wife’s due date was the 12th.
“My baby girl pops up – God shows favour to humble people.”
Monroe Jr has been repeatedly called a “quitter” by Saunders after he was stopped in the sixth round by GGG in Inglewood, California two-and-a-half-years ago.
But the 30-year-old insists he doesn’t want to end his career with permanent damage, and that if he had been a quitter he would not have returned after the Triple G fight.
“I have beautiful kids, a stunning wife; I want to be able to look at my wife and say: ‘You’re still as beautiful as you were’ in 30 years,” Monroe Jr added.
“I don’t want my kids to come look at me and say: ‘Daddy doesn’t see me, daddy doesn’t understand me’.
“All of us fighters have heart – if I was a real quitter, as people like to call me, I would have quit after the Darnell Boone fight [a split-decision defeat in 2011].
“If I was a quitter, after I lost to Golovkin, I wouldn’t have come back and beat two top guys [John Thompson and Gabriel Rosado].
“After I’ve beaten his a*** I’m going to be able to go home and say to my son: ‘Gabriel, I love you’.”