Two fighters who previously targeted a showdown with Ryan Garcia will instead meet in a head-on collision.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a deal was struck between Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to meet on March 30 in Las Vegas. Their bout will serve as the co-main event of the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Amazon Prime Pay-Per-View show.
ESPN.com boxing insider Mike Coppinger was the first to report that the fight was finalized.
The news comes in spite of the insistence from Garcia’s side that he was due to next face Romero in a fight that would have headlined an April 20 DAZN PPV show. The timing was odd, given that Romero already moved on from the targeted clash amidst false claims from OscarDe La Hoya, Golden Boy chairman and Garcia’s promoter, that Romero priced himself out of such a fight.
Mexico City’s Cruz (25-2-1, 17KOs) embarked on his own campaign to secure a Garcia fight. However, he moved on from that journey once presented with the opportunity to face Romero in a fight between two boxers who are cult favorites within the sport.
Las Vegas’ Romero (15-1, 13KOs) has not fought since a ninth-round stoppage of Venezuela’s Ismael ‘Abuelo’ Barroso to win the WBA junior welterweight title last May in his hometown. The fight’s controversial ending sparked industry-wide debate but left Barroso without an immediate insurance policy. Romero was instead ordered to face England’s Ohara Davies in a mandatory title defense but filed an injury exception.
The WBA ordered a Davies-Barroso interim title fight, where the winner was to receive a shot at Romero by no later than March 20. Barroso won that fight via stunning first-round knockout on January 6 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, for which Romero was ringside and even posed for pictures with Barroso after the fight.
At this time, Boxing Scene has been unable to confirm whether Romero’s WBA title will be at stake versus Cruz or if Barroso will be upgraded to full titlist given the failure to honor the sanctioning body’s previous ruling.
Cruz will move up from his position as a top-rated lightweight to face Romero at junior welterweight. He has not fought since a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Giovanni Cabrera last July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was the chief support to the Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford-Errol Spence undisputed welterweight championship as part of a Showtime PPV event.
The win was the third in a row for Cruz since a hard-fought, unanimous decision defeat to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (29-0, 27KOs) in their December 2021 Showtime PPV headliner from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Cruz took the fight on five weeks’ notice, ironically replacing Romero. He was unbeaten in his previous eighteen fights prior to the loss but also ended Davis’ sixteen-fight knockout streak in the process.
Romero’s lone defeat came in a sixth-round stoppage to Baltimore’s Davis in their May 2022 WBA ‘Regular’ lightweight title fight. His only fight since then was versus Barroso.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox