By Dan Ambrose: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero says he has no interest in fighting WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney because he views him as a weak-chinned bum and “email champion” rather than a legitimate belt holder to be respected.
Rolly is one of the biggest punchers in the 135-lb division, yet he hasn’t cut his teeth on any of the top-tier opposition for some reason. We got a failure to launch with Rolly Romero, and it’s disappointing.
Rolly ridicules Haney, 22 because he was hurt in his last fight by Jorge Linares last May and barely escaped that contest without getting knocked out.
Some boxing fans believe that the REAL reason Rolly is disinterested in fighting Haney is that he’s afraid of losing to him.
Why won’t Rolly fight Haney?
Despite the negative things Rolly has been saying about Haney, he would be a huge step up in class from the fighters he’s been facing during his entire 14-fight, five-year professional career.
Rolly is three years older than Haney, yet he’s not the same caliber of opposition, and he’s badly trailing him in the number of fights he’s had as a professional. Haney has fought over twice as many fights during his six-year pro career.
Haney (26-0, 15 KOs) is willing to give the unbeaten WBA interim 135-lb champion Rolly Romero (14-0, 12 KOs) a free title shot if he’s interested.
Thus far, Rolly is dismissive of the idea of fighting the unbeaten Haney, preferring instead to continue pushing for a clash against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Rolly says Haney is a ‘waste of time
Instead of Rolly wasting time calling out Tank, 26, in the media, he needs to contact Mayweather Promotions and have them set up the fight.
It would be a simple matter for Rolly Romero’s promoters to put the fight together between him and Davis if they wanted to, but they clearly don’t want to make that match
Rolly, 25, has looked good lately, stopping Anthony Yigit and Avery Sparrow in the seventh round in his last two fights. However, Rolly didn’t look nearly as good in winning a questionable 12 round unanimous decision over Jackson Marinez in August 2020.
That was a fight in which a lot of boxing fans saw Rolly losing. Instead of shutting down his critics by fighting Marinez in a rematch, Rolly moved on and has fought two weaker fighters in Sparrow and Yigit, and not surprisingly, he’s looked good.
“Devin Haney’s a waste of time. I want Gervonta Davis,” said Rolando Romero to Fighthub last Saturday night. “I’m going to ask you who you would rather see, Rolly – Haney or Rolly – Tank?
“Which one is the more entertaining fight, which one is the more explosive fight?
Rolando wants the “big fish”
“I go after big fish. I don’t go after f**** email champs,” Rolly said about Haney. “He a bum with no chin. Man, he got hurt with Venum gloves by [Jorge] Linares, a frail-a** fighter,” said Rolly.
At some point, Rolly is going to wake up and smell the coffee and realize that Mayweather Promotions have NO interest in letting him fight Tank Davis, and it’s pretty why.
They don’t want to see one of the two, probably Rolly, get beaten and see their value drop off the side of a cliff.
The way Mayweather Promotions are matching Rolly, they don’t want to take ANY risks with him, particularly what happened in his fight with Jackson Marinez last year in August. That was obviously a test for Rolly Romero, and he failed miserably.
It speaks volumes that Mayweather Promotions chose not to set up a rematch between Rolly and Marinez.
“To be honest, man, I thought Rigo won, but Rigo needs to show more. Prime Rigo would’ve demolished and murdered him,” said Rolly about Guillermo Rigondeaux’s fight last Saturday night against WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero, which he lost by a 12 round split decision.