Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero has a considerably different view on the fallout in a previously targeted clash with Ryan Garcia.
The reigning WBA junior welterweight titlist has taken exception to the claim made by Oscar De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter, that Romero priced himself out of the attractive matchup. That excuse was provided by the Hall of Fame former six division champion and head of Golden Boy Promotions when he revealed that his company moved on to a planned Gacia-Jose Ramirez fight.
“F— Princess Ryan Garcia, F— Oscar de la Fishnets, and f— Dazn the sh!ttiest streaming network out there for wasting my time, and more importantly wasting the entire boxing [world’s] time,” Romero said through his social media channels. “It’s disgusting to see how you guys do business, then trying to go behind my back offering Pitbull (Isaac Cruz) an offer then claiming I [outpriced] myself. Y’all f—– up.”
Las Vegas’ Romero (15-1, 13KOs) has publicly expressed interest in a fight versus Garcia (24-1, 20KOs) late last year and in recent weeks. Public interest intensified after Garcia openly acknowledged that he instructed Golden Boy to abandon talks for a shot at WBC junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney (31-0, 15KOs).
Progress was minimal at best; in fact, talks hadn’t even yet begun with Romero at that time.
De La Hoya recently alleged that Romero-Garcia was no longer in play and that he was instead moving on to a planned in-house fight for his company’s biggest star. Golden Boy recently signed Ramirez and is the promoter of record for Garcia, although that relationship is severely strained and the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.
Garcia recently refuted any claims that he and his team were engaged in talks with Ramirez, despite ongoing conversations between Golden Boy and Rick Mirigian, Ramirez’s manager.
It has left Romero without a viable option as a mandatory title defense looms. Ismael Barroso won the interim WBA junior welterweight title with a first-round knockout of Ohara Davies on a January 6 DAZN show from Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Romero was ringside for the show—headlined by Vergil Ortiz’s first-round stoppage of Fredrick Lawson—and offered words of encouragement for Barroso after the fight, even posing for pics with his former rival.
Romero claimed the WBA 140-pound title with a controversial ninth-round stoppage over Barroso last May at The Cosmopolitan in his Las Vegas hometown. He was subsequently ordered to next face Davies as his mandatory but had to file an injury exception as he was unable to return to the ring in time to honor the deadline.
Barroso is now in position to secure a rematch, though the WBA has yet to order the title consolidation fight.
Meanwhile, Romero has set his sights on a new target—current lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Interestingly, Mexico City’s Cruz (25-2-1, 17KOs) has embarked on his own campaign to secure a Garcia fight.
Romero has his own thoughts on how all of that will shake out.
“Now it’s Rolly Vs Pitbull on Amazon Prime, the largest network in boxing history,” insists Romero. “This fight is an explosion.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox