If Rolly Romero is going to fight Ryan Garcia or anyone other than Ismael Barroso next, Kenneth Sims Jr. wants his shot at Barroso’s belt.
Chicago’s Sims won a WBA elimination match on the undercard when Romero controversially stopped Barroso in the ninth round almost eight months ago. Sims, who is ranked second among the WBA’s 140-pound contenders, expects to move into the top spot because Barroso knocked out number one-ranked Ohara Davies in the first round of their fight Saturday night for the WBA’s interim title.
Vito Mielnicki Sr., whose company promotes Sims, sent a letter this week to the WBA requesting a resolution to the sanctioning organization’s unfolding situation in the 140-pound division.
“If Rolly is gonna pass on Barroso and fight Ryan, then [Sims] should fight Barroso,” Mielnicki told BoxingScene.com. “Barroso jumped us [in the rankings] because of the controversial loss to Rolly. But now it’s time – give us the fight with Barroso, so we can win the interim title. And then after Barroso, we’ll fight the winner of Rolly and whoever. Enough is enough. Let’s do what we’ve gotta do.”
The WBA ordered Romero, who was granted a mysterious injury exemption by the WBA last year, to fight the Barroso-Davies winner by March 20. If Romero boxes Barroso next in a rematch Barroso obviously deserves, it is highly unlikely to take place prior to that deadline.
Sims (20-2-1, 7 KOs) hasn’t fought since his entertaining, 12-round, majority-decision victory over Uzbekistan’s Batyr Akhmedov on the Romero-Barroso undercard May 20 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
The 29-year-old Sims won their all-action, closely contested eliminator on the scorecards of judges Tim Cheatham (116-112) and Chris Migliore (115-113). Judge Steve Weisfeld scored one of BoxingScene.com’s “Fight of the Year” runners-up a draw (114-114).
“[Sims] stepped to the plate and sat there and banged with the guy that was supposed to bang him out,” Mielnicki said. “That guy stopped Barroso, and we beat him, hands down.”
Akhmedov (10-3, 9 KOs), who suffered the third close loss of his career, previously beat Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KOs) by ninth-round knockout in August 2018 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. Barroso sent Akhmedov to the canvas during the third round of that bout, but Akhmedov came back to drop and stop Barroso in the ninth round.
The 40-year-old Barroso dropped Davies twice during the first round Saturday night at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Referee Celestino Ruiz understandably stopped their scheduled 12-round co-feature on the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson undercard just 1:53 into it because he wasn’t convinced Davies (25-3, 18 KOs) should continue once he reached his feet following a second knockdown.
Barroso wouldn’t comment when the vindicated Venezuelan veteran was asked afterward if he would accept step-aside money to allow North Las Vegas’ Romero (15-1, 13 KOs) to face Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), of Victorville, California, next in what would be a higher-profile, pay-per-view fight.
Regardless, Sims wants the championship chance he and his team believe he has earned. Mielnicki predicted that Sims would “dominate” Barroso if that fight takes place.
“We’ve been waiting, but now it’s time,” Mielnicki said. “Enough’s enough. We’d like a resolution. We wanna know what’s what, and we feel like it’s our time. With the Amazon Prime thing coming [with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions] and me working with Al, I think [Barroso-Sims is] a great fight to put on it.
“We want the fight tomorrow. Enough’s enough. We waited, we did what we had to do, we were respectful, but now it’s our time. I served the WBA with another letter and I’m waiting for a response.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.