Rolando Romero will keep his crown.
For now.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the WBA Medical Committee has reviewed and accepted al records submitted by Las Vegas’s Romero, who will be permitted to keep his junior welterweight title. The ruling comes with two specific caveats: he must be able to defend by no later than next March 20th; and he will have to face the winner of an approved interim title fight between England’s Ohara Davies and Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso.
Davies-Barroso has been formally ordered by the WBA, Boxing Scene has additionally learned. It is widely believed that a deal will be reached, as Golden Boy Promotions—who signed Davies earlier this summer–has teased a November 18 date for the fight.
The interim title status appears to be a one-time exception granted by the WBA, who abolished all such belts in 2021 as part of its ongoing title reduction campaign. Its use is applicable here, as it avoids a scenario where Romero—who offered sufficient proof of injury as seen fit by the sanctioning body—is stripped of the belt and/or downgraded to ‘Champion In Recess.’
The ruling comes nearly four months after Romero (15-1, 13KOs) was first ordered to face Davies (25-2, 18KOs) in a mandatory title defense. The two sides never came close to reaching a deal or even making even slight progress during the assigned negotiation period.
A purse bid hearing was scheduled for June 24 before the WBA agreed to delay in light of Romero’s filed injury exemption.
Romero won the vacant WBA 140-pound title in a controversial ninth-round stoppage of Barroso (24-4-2, 22KOs) on May 15 in Las Vegas. He was due to previously challenge unbeaten titlist Alberto Puello, who was removed from the event and subsequently stripped of the title after he tested positive for the banned substance Clomiphene.
The WBA previously granted approval for Puello to face Romero in a voluntary defense, on the condition that the winner honor back-to-back mandatories. That list was cut in half when Barroso replaced Puello, leaving the Romero-Barroso winner to next face Davies, who became the mandatory after a ninth-round knockout of countryman Lewis Ritson in their March 4 title eliminator in Newcastle, England.
Romero-Davies was ordered on May 30. Talks went nowhere, which prompted the call for a purse bid. Pending the WBA’s forthcoming ruling, the matter will either be tabled or head back to a scheduled hearing, in which case the minimum acceptable bid is $110,000 to obtain promotional rights.
Barroso has not fought since the controversial defeat to Romero earlier this spring. The ruling in this matter is the closest he has come to justice being served from that night.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox