Arnold Barboza has put in the work over the years but he isn’t a recognizable name, even to the sports diehard fans. Since he isn’t overly known, it’s been easy for some of the lightweight division’s top contenders and highly ranked contenders to look past him. As of late, however, Barboza is starting to take matters into his own hands.
Following his eighth-round stoppage win over Xolisani Ndongeni, Barboza went over to Rolando “Rolly” Romero who just so happened to be in attendance. Barboza looked him up and down and attempted to turn things into a fight.
Once things eventually cooled down, Barboza wasn’t done lashing out. From a character perspective, Barboza (29-0, 11 KOs) hasn’t had enough cordial conversations with Romero to make a judgment call. But in terms of his skills, Barboza has watched Romero time and time again. Needless to say, he wasn’t impressed.
“Rolly, you know, he just has power but it’s nothing I can’t take,” Barboza told Fight Huv TV recently. “I don’t think he has any technique. He’s just a wild fighter.”
Whether he’s wild or not, Romero (15-1, 13 KOs) has made his unique style work for him. Although his win over Ismael Barroso was controversial, Romero is an official titleholder, courtesy of the WBA.
Barboza can’t take away his title win but he does believe that Romero has shown a ton of chinks in his armor. Against Gervonta Davis in 2022, Romero was dropped and stopped. Even against Barroso, Romero was dropped again and appeared to be on his way to another defeat if referee Tony Weeks hadn’t jumped in seemingly prematurely.
Watching Romero during those handful of fights was all Barboza believes he needed in order to come away with his final impression of him.
“I honestly think he has no chin. I think I’ll stop Rolly.”