By Sean Jones: WBA interim lightweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (13-0, 11 KOs) will be defending against replacement opponent Anthony Yigit (24-1-1, 8 KOs) in the co-feature bout this Saturday, July 17th, on the Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Carlos Castano card on SHOWTIME at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
The 25-year-old ‘Rolly’ Romero was originally scheduled to defend against Austin Dulay, but he pulled out of the fight this week due to an injury.
Yigit is a 2012 Olympian from Sweden who has only lost once as a professional in a seventh round injury stoppage against Ivan Baranchyk in the World Boxing Super Series tournament in October 2018.
Since that loss, Yigit has won his last three fights and looked great, even better than before his defeat against Baranchyk. In the eyes of Romero, this is an upgrade for him from his previously scheduled fight against Dulay.
With the Romero-Yigit fight being the co-feature bout on the Charlo vs. Castano card, Rolly must shine because he wants a title shot against WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in his next contest.
Romero talks Yigit fight
“I was in a car accident last Sunday, and I’m still taking this fight,” said Romero to PBC Podcast. “Anyone that declines a world title shot is a coward,” said Rolly about his previous opponent Austin Dulay pulling out of the fight due to an injury.
“I don’t really know too much of him [Yigit]. He’s an Olympian, so it’s way better for me. I had 35 fights in the amateurs, so we get our opponent the same say,” said Rolly when asked if it’s difficult getting a replacement opponent Yigit the week of the fight.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’m happy he stepped up to take the fight, and I hope everything goes well. He [Yigit] has a better record on paper, and he looks better [than Dulay].
“I don’t really know much about this dude, so I can’t say, but Austin Dulay, I didn’t think he was anything special.
“I’ve fought three southpaws, I had six knockdowns, and all three of them ended within the first round. So I guess we’re going to continue the streak,” said Rolly.
Yigit is someone that won’t give up, and he’s got an excellent chin, as we saw in his loss to Ivan Baranchyk in 2018. Rolly will need to knock Yigit out if he doesn’t want to get trapped into a grueling 12 round war.
Rolly says he deserved the win over Jackson Marinez
“With [Jackson] Marinez, every judge had me winning the fight,” said Romero. “At the end of it, what counts more, a jab or a power punch? What counts more, being aggressive or passive?
“What counts more, hurting your opponent or not hurting your opponent at all? As I said, that amateurish s*** doesn’t work in the pros, and that’s the reason why I won the fight convincingly, especially on the judges’ scorecards.
“I bet you anything if there was a crowd, it would be more apparent because seeing it on TV and seeing it in person is two different things.
“And I could have gotten [Avery] Sparrow out of there in the first round, but I decided not to; I decided to get my rounds and do what other people think I couldn’t do,” Rolly Romero continued.
“I’m always getting better and improving. Even against Marinez, I’d only had fought six rounds, but I had started boxing late.
“It was relatively unknown if I could go twelve rounds, especially throwing hard. I kind of shut everybody up.
‘With Marinez, we worked on conditioning more than anything. With Sparrow, it was like, ’12 rounds is easy.’ I thought I was in round 10 when I was in round 12; that’s how good I felt,” said Romero.
Rolly vs. Jackson Marinez was one of those fights where you got to decide whether you value jabbing and boxing over straight power and pressure.
For the boxing fans that were impressed with Marinez’s outside game and his ring generalship, they felt that he’d done enough to beat Romero.
The fans that favor seeing pure power and aggressiveness from a fighter viewed Rolly as the clear winner. Ultimately, the judges favored Romerto’s power game, giving him the 12 round unanimous decision by 116-112, 118-110, and 115-113.
With Marinez recently being knocked out by Richard Commey in seven rounds, it’s pointless for Romero to run it back with Jackson.
Tank Davis is the fight Romero wants
“He has the belt that I want,” said Romero about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis holding the WBA ‘regular’ 135-lb belt. “So he’s going to have to vacate it, or I’m going to have to take it.
“There’s no other way around it. Aside from that, I really don’t like him [Gervonta] as a person. That’s pretty self-explanatory. He’s a pretty piece of s*** person. As I said, I hope that fight can happen in the near future so I can get my other belt.
“He looked good against [Mario] Barrios,” Rolly said of Tank’s win over WBA ‘regular’ 140-lb champion Mario. “Barrios is a much bigger dude, but Barrios should have been more aggressive because Tank was terrified of him, especially in those earlier rounds.
“It’s genetics. You’re either born with it or not born with it,” said Rolly about his awesome punching power.
“There’s no creating it or nothing. Hopefully, in my next fight, I fight for one of them [world titles]. The easiest one to make is with Gervonta Davis, so that’s the fight I want.
“There’s no reason why it can’t be made. We have the same manager, same promoter [Mayweather Promotions], so there’s no reason why it can’t be made.
“We’re in the same weight class [135], and if he wants to fight at 140, we can fight at 140,” said Rolando Romero.
Unless Mayweather Promotions wants to keep Romero and Tank Davis as separate revenue streams, they need to make this fight soon, possibly next.
If Rolly steamrolls Yigit on Saturday, Mayweather Promotions will do well to put the Tank vs. Romero fight together for October on Showtime PPV.
Rolly talks about whipping Ryan Garcia
“April 20th, 2017,” said Rolando about when he sparred Ryan Garcia. “I whooped his a** really bad. Anybody can go to YouTube and see it. It was really bad. It was a breakdown, but Ryan has improved a lot since then.
“Yeah, I’m always targeting him, but to me, there’s nothing to win from him because I want a belt. He vacated his [WBC interim lightweight belt].
“I don’t know what happened, but he doesn’t have the belt anymore. So it’s only Tank, Teofimo, and Devin Haney. Yeah,” said Rolando when asked if he’s targeting those three fighters.
There’s been talk for ages about how Rolly handed it to Ryan Garcia in their sparring sessions. Romero reportedly worked Ryan over during the sparring, and it was something that he took a lot of heat over.
With that said, it was four years ago, and that was when Ryan was just 18, and not the fighter he is today.
Surprisingly, Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions haven’t attempted to set up a fight with Romero. Eventually, these two have got to meet in the ring so that they can see who the better fighter is now.