By Jimmy James: Undefeated upcoming lightweight prospect Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela said yesterday in an interview with Golden Era Boxing that he would love to fight Rolando Romero and Devin Haney. “I want the toughest fights. I don’t want easy fights. I will sleep with my belt knowing I beat the best fighters,” he said.
“Rolando Romero is a good fighter. He is strong and wouldn’t be an easy fight,” he said. “He is a caveman, he opens a lot, he is a dirty fighter, and I have everything it takes to beat him.” In the interview, when asked about Devin Haney, he also said that “I would love that fight! have the style to put him under pressure, take him to deep waters and stop him.”
Romero has called out Haney, but neither side has been willing to offer a ‘real’ contract to make the fight happen. They both think they are the best thing ever made since frozen pizza, but the reality is that they all bark with no bites.
This generation of fighters acts more like divas going to a Justin Beaver concert than actually represent boxing. We went from Archie Moore and Freddie Steele to Thomas Hearns, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins to this display house of dolls.
Romero won’t fight Teofimo Lopez because they are both friends, and he doesn’t seem interested in fighting his buddy. He called Haney and then forgot he wanted the fight. On the other hand, Haney ducked Gary Russell Jr and decided to pull out of the fight at the last moment. He could have also fought Javier Fortuna, but he decided to go after Jorge Linares, a boxer out of his prime. So will they really fight Valenzuela?
Both fighters clout-chase one another, haven’t fought anyone that was in their prime, and they do not want to risk their undefeated streak either. I hope that in Valenzuela, both fighters will actually do something productive instead of getting paid for playing golf next to a duck pond.
Valenzuela is ready to headhunt both boxers, and they have no excuse not to fight him. Romero and Haney might not be as cowardly as Ryan Garcia, who ducked both, who made up a lame excuse to back out from the fight with Fortuna thinking no one noticed — just like 10 million people noticed BTW— but they are not far apart..
Pretty soon, Valenzuela and Floyd Scotsfield will rank higher in the lightweight division, and what I think will happen is that Haney and Romero will jump the division faster than Hussein Bolt. Well, no sir, stay at lightweight and clean up the division and fight against each other without excuse.
Win, draw or lose, the most important thing is that boxing fans see the best fights and start putting pressure on these boxers to stop acting like Floyd Mayweather Jr and Canelo Alvarez and revert back to the days of ‘real champions’ so they stop ducking dangerous fighters like Valenzuela.