By Sean Jones: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero is predicting a “boring” affair between the June 5th undisputed lightweight fight between four-belt 135-lb champion George Kambosos Jr. and WBC champion Devin Haney on ESPN.
On Sunday, it was announced that Haney (27-0 15 KOs) and Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10 KOs) had reached an agreement to an undisputed lightweight contest on June 5th at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
According to ESPN, the Kambosos vs. Haney fight will take place in the afternoon in Australia on June 5th and will be shown on June 4th in the evening in the U.S.
You can make a strong argument that Jeremiah Nakathalia vs. Kambosos would be a far more entertaining fight for the fans than Kambosos-Haney.
Watching the huge puncher Nakathalia chase Kambosos around the ring all night would be more fun than watching Haney peck away at the Australian with jabs.
Rolly says Kambosos vs. Haney will be “boring”
There are already a lot of casual & hardcore boxing fans excited after learning about the Kambosos-Haney fight being agreed for June 5th.
“With Devin Haney and Kambosos? I think that’s going to be one of the worst and most boring fights in the history of boxing, and the fans lose,” said Rolly to Helen Yee Sports about the June 5th undisputed clash between George Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney.
Rolly is familiar with Haney’s less than an entertaining defensive style of fighting, which brings out all the worst elements from Floyd Mayweather Jr’s dull fighting style that he was known for during the latter part of his career.
What we’ve seen in the past is the casual & hardcore boxing fans get caught up in the hype about fights, following along in a mindless herd mentality with the impressionable, gullible fans, getting exciting without taking a look at the match-ups to determine for themselves if those fighters are worth watching.
Undisputed June 5th! #Inshallah 🤲🏽🏆
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) March 27, 2022
One example of the herd mentality was the hype created for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight in 2015. Even though both fighters were old by that point in their careers, boxing fans eagerly ordered their fight on PPV, believing it would be a great fight. It wasn’t.
For those fans that remember the Mayweather-Pacquiao, it was a terribly disappointing fight between two stars, showing very little effort to entertain.
Mayweather fought in his usual dull safety-first style, and Pacquiao looked old, shot & timid. Pacquiao hadn’t looked like the same fighter he’d once been since being knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
The result was a boring fight with Mayweather playing it safe, doing just enough to win a 12 round decision.
In the aftermath, the boxing fans who had paid $100 per household to see the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight were furious at being ripped off in purchasing a poor product.
In the case of the Kambosos-Haney fight, we’ve got the same ingredients for a boring war due to Haney’s boring play-it-safe Mayweather style of fighting going up against a non-puncher in Kambosos.
It’s understandable why Rolly views the Kambosos vs. Haney fight as one that will disappoint because he’s familiar with Devin’s fighting style. He knows that he’s not going to battle in the manner required to entertain the boxing public.
Rolando predicts Ryan Garcia stops Tagoe
Rolly sees unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) scoring a knockout win over Emmanuel Tagoe next month in their fight on April 9th.
Ryan is fighting for the first time since his victory over Luke Campbell last year in January, and there will be a lot of attention on his bout with Tagoe. If Ryan wins and looks good, he could potentially face the Kambosos vs. Haney winner.
For Ryan to get the winner, it would likely need to be against Kambosos because he’s got a rematch clause for the Haney fight.
If Haney wins on June 5th, Kambosos will have the option to activate his rematch clause to force the second fight in Australia.
He’ll make that move because the money will be too good for him not to, and he’ll want to try and avenge his loss to Haney.
“Ryan Garcia knocks out Emmanuel Tagoe, and Ryan Garcia is going to knock him out with a hook,” Rolly predicts about the April 9th fight between unbeaten King Ry against the Lou DiBella-promoted Emmanuel Tagoe in the main event on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.