Once-beaten junior welterweight contender Ryan Garcia has accepted the challenge from newly crowned WBA junior welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
“Okay Rollies, you asked for it. Let’s get it. This one is for Barroso,” Garcia stated on social media.
Earlier this month, the 27-year-old Romero captured the vacant WBA title with a controversial stoppage of top contender Ismael Barroso.
After the win, Romero called for a fight with Garcia.
“There’s only two fights I want,” Romero said. “There’s the rematch with Tank Davis. But I think there’s a much bigger option. I want to go after Ryan Garcia. We can do it on Showtime PPV.”
Back in April, in what is currently the biggest pay-per-view fight of the year, Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) suffered the first defeat of his career – when he was knocked out by Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. Their event generated 1.2 million purchases on pay-per-view.
The sole defeat on Romero’s record, which took place last year, is also a knockout loss to Davis.
Garcia’s fight with Davis took place at a catch-weight of 136-pounds. After suffering his first loss, Garcia made it clear that he was moving up in weight to 140-pounds.
He also parted ways with trainer Joe Goossen – and retained the services of veteran coach Derrick James, who currently works with Errol Spence, Jermel Charlo, Frank Martin and Anthony Joshua.
In terms of Romero, there is still the situation with the ‘champion in recess’ Alberto Puello. Originally, Romero was set to fight Puello, but the fight fell through when Puello tested positive for a banned substance. He was later replaced by Barroso, who held the number one position in the rankings. The WBA has not officially removed Puello from his ‘champion in recess’ position or suspended him. If Puello is able to overcome his current situation, there is the possibility of Romero being ordered to make a mandatory defense against him.