Rolando Romero seems to be recovering (or has recovered) quite well as the WBA super lightweight champion-in-recess announces his next opponent; Mexican lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Romero further seemed to confirm Oscar De La Hoya’s claims of pricing himself out by launching a rant directed at De La Hoya, Ryan Garcia and global streaming service DAZN,
Though it was previously unknown whether Oscar De La Hoya was correct with his statement in Rolando “Rolly” Romero (15-1, 13 KO’s) rejecting a fight with Golden Boy fighter Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s), Romero’s recent post on Twitter/X helped clarify what actually occurred.
“F*** Princess Ryan Garcia, f*** Oscar De La Fishnets [De La Hoya], and f*** DAZN, the shittiest streaming network out there, for wasting my time, and more importantly wasting the entire boxing worlds time,” Romero stated angrily on his Twitter/X account.
“It’s disgusting to see how you guys do business, then trying to go behind my back offering Pitbull an offer then claiming I out priced myself. Y’all f***** up. Now it’s Rolly vs. Pitbull on Amazon Prime, the largest network in boxing history. This fight is an explosion!“
Previously, Ryan Garcia had indicated interest in fighting Rolly Romero, but promoter De La Hoya went on to debunk the notion of a between the two occurring and appeared to be angling Garcia for a fight with Ramirez instead. However, Garcia later expressed his refusal to fight Ramirez who had signed to Golden Boy Promotions the week prior to Garcia’s statement.
While it is still unclear who Garcia faces next, Romero is aiming for a fight with Isaac Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KO’s) and even revealed a poster suggesting the two would face each other at super lightweight.
It should be noted that both Mayweather Promotions (Romero’s promoter) and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), who represents both fighters, have yet to officially announce this fight. Romero’s statement all but confirms that the fight will be a part of PBC’s collaboration with streaming service Amazon Prime.
If the news is found to be true, Romero and Cruz will be fighting over the WBA 140 lbs title which was relinquished last year by Romero due to circumstances surrounding an injury. As Romero was placed as the champion-in-recess, he was expected to fight for the title upon his return to the ring against the winner of the Davies-Barroso match which was held earlier this month for the WBA interim 140 lbs title.
Despite Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO’s) winning the interim belt on January 6th this year, the WBA has yet to order a match between Barroso and Romero, allowing Romero the opportunity to face any other opponent which now appears to be Isaac Cruz.
Cruz will be moving up to super lightweight for the first time of his career if the fight is made, exposing the WBA’s lack of stringency over their own rules if they allow Romero to fight a lightweight rather than WBA super lightweight interim champion Ismael Barroso.
As the WBA’s above rules state, Romero might risk being stripped of his champion-in-recess status entirely if he opts out of facing the designated champion, in this case interim champion, Ismael Barroso. Though the fight between Romero and Cruz may yet occur, the WBA should be on standby to strip Romero if he chooses to face Cruz who is currently not ranked in the WBA’s super lightweight rankings.
With a plethora of fighters that Romero could fight instead, including WBA interim champion Barroso, it remains to be seen whether the WBA will step up and react appropriately if this fight is made. For now, things remain unconfirmed but there appears to be great interest by Romero to face Cruz rather than a legitimate 140 pounder, whether it be WBA interim champion Ismael Barroso or Ryan Garcia.
