We see a car roll to a stop in the desert. Rolly Romero pops the trunk — in a camera shot presumably intended to call to mind any number of Quentin Tarantino films populated with bad guys, or perhaps the final season of Breaking Bad — and pulls out a pinata with a picture of Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz attached to it. Romero starts whacking the pinata with a stick, then turns to stabbing it with that stick, and eventually stomping on it.
“I’m not really a villain,” we hear Rolly say. “I’m more of an anti-hero. A villain is doing evil things. An anti-hero is doing things for what’s best, right? Yeah, I’m not a villain. They just don’t understand me.”
Villain? Anti-hero? Call it what you want; it’s mostly semantics. In pro wrestling, they’d call Rolly the “heel” — contrasted sharply with the humble, blue-collar Pitbull, a pure “babyface.”
The narrator of the show featuring this clip of Romero KO 1 Pinata — Gloves Off, the Amazon Prime successor to HBO’s 24/7 and Showtime’s All Access — describes Rolly as “flamboyant” and “boisterous.”
It all adds up to him playing the role of that boxer whom people would pay good money to see lose.
That’s his part on the March 30 PBC-on-Prime debut, a card that lacks a traditional blockbuster pay-per-view main event and is hoping to move fingers toward the “purchase” button through the depth of the show, spotlighting a multitude of fighters and matchups that may hold appeal. Among Tim Tszyu, Erislandy Lara, Michael Zerafa, Sebastian Fundora, Serhii Bohachuk, and Cruz, Romero stands out as the guy fight fans can love to hate.
That’s a time-honored boxing tradition. Romero sure as heck didn’t invent it, even if he’s one of the art form’s top current practitioners.
And from where I sit, there are five different types of boxing heels. This isn’t The Five People You Meet in Heaven. More like The Five Boxers You Meet in Hell:
Archetype 1: The mildly douchey trash-talker
This is where Romero fits in. It’s the least villainous category — although Romero has flirted with more serious categories, as he once faced accusations of sexual assault, but ultimately no charges. Having no idea what the truth is there, we can only judge him on what we’ve witnessed, which is that he has an irritating way about him once his gums start flapping.
He may or may not actually be a bad person. Or his d-bag qualities may come and go. Tyson Fury is another great example of this. One minute, he’s a wonderful advocate for mental health causes and a shining example of perseverance; the next 20 minutes, he’s an unbearable blowhard.
As with Romero, there’s often a sense with Fury that the guy is just trying way too hard.
They’re a-holes, but they can also be charming at times and can make you chuckle. Though he eventually got into more serious trouble outside the ring, think of a guy like prime Ricardo Mayorga, eating chicken wings on the scale and lighting up cigarettes in the ring. Major douche vibes, and you want to see him get smacked around … but it’s mostly harmless.
Archetype 2: Egomaniacs who back it up
Nobody ever played the “they’ll pay to see me lose” card better than Floyd Mayweather. People had all sorts of different reasons for paying to watch him — some worshipped him, some hardcore boxing fans just admired the hell out of his craft and would never miss a chance to see him perform. But he wouldn’t hold each of the top four spots in all-time pay-per-view sales without all those folks who couldn’t stand him forking over cash in hopes of seeing him humbled.
How much of the “Money Mayweather” character was the real Floyd and how much of it was exaggerated for promotional purposes? Only he knows. (Or maybe he blurred the line so hard that even he lost track.) It’s hard to believe someone could actually be that big of a prick. But anything’s possible.
It’s a thin line between the “douchey trash talker” and “egomaniac,” and a fighter like Fury bleeds over a bit. You could also make a case for the likes of Carl Froch or Naseem Hamed landing in this category — though Naz only backed it up for so long, until he couldn’t anymore. Which brings us to …
Archetype 3: Egomaniacs who can’t back it up
Hamed didn’t stick around post-prime for long — he had a few struggles, then lost to Marco Antonio Barrera, then looked diminished in his comeback win, and then wisely cashed out. But for one night, anyway, haters got to see the man with the ultimate over-the-top self-adoring persona, “The Prince,” get his comeuppance.
A decade or so later, a better example came along. It was a personality decidedly more loathsome, paired with athletic talents that quickly found their ceiling, but with a refusal to exit the stage once the losing began. I’m talking, of course, about Adrien Broner.
Broner’s first loss, a humiliation at the hands of Marcos Maidana, may well be the most satisfying-for-the-fans defeat in modern boxing history. Now he’s suffered enough losses (along with a couple of undeserved decision wins) that the thrill is gone and it’s just sad. But for a little while, rooting for Broner to lose and having him come through for you was as thrilling as watching your team win the Super Bowl.
Archetype 4: Suspected cheats and dirty fighters
Now we’re getting into the serious stuff. If Antonio Margarito knowingly did what most of us believe he knowingly did, there’s no arguing that he’s an “anti-hero.” Loading your gloves with hardened inserts, as he is suspected of doing to defeat Miguel Cotto, possibly among other fights, is pure villain behavior. And after trainer Javier Capetillo got busted before Margarito’s fight with Shane Mosley, most fans rooted against Margarito with a burning vitriol.
To a lesser extent, those popped for PEDs see many fans turn against them. And also in a lesser sub-category are the rule-benders. Boxing history is littered with dirty fighters, from Fritzie Zivic to a new heel who emerged just this past Saturday, Esteuri Suero. Bernard Hopkins often walked the dotted line between “dirty” and “sneaky,” and plenty of fans hated him for his frequently ugly fighting style.
Archetype 5: True criminals
It’s about to get dark. As sweet-natured as the great majority of pro fighters are, plenty have come along over the years who were dangerously evil, dangerously unwell, or both. The likes of James Butler and Edwin Valero — actual murderers — come to mind. But, for obvious reasons, boxing fans never had an opportunity to root against them after their criminality was known.
Plenty of fighters, however, commit different sorts of serious crimes, do time, and come back ready to wear the black hat into the ring. Mike Tyson was as hated and feared as he was loved and revered. For some fans, Adonis Stevenson could never escape the shadow of his heinous crimes. Gervonta Davis went to prison and missed a small portion of his prime just last year and may or may not ever grow up and clean up his act.
When Davis fought Romero two years ago, fight fans were assured of seeing one of these fighters they love to hate take an “L.” It was Rolly who did, via vicious sixth-round KO.
If the losses pile up, eventually fans will find that the charm of watching Romero go down in flames has worn off.
But the way Romero is framing himself and the way PBC’s documentary producers are framing him, it’s clear they believe he still has some heel runway to work with.