By Jeff Aronow: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (14-0, 12 KOs) had a field day slinging insults at Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on Thursday during their press conference launch for their May 28th fight on Showtime pay-per-view.
Tank will be defending his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight belt against his mandatory challenger Rolly at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The WBA title that Tank possesses is the less prestigious of the two lightweight belts with that organization. George Kambosos holds the more valuable WBA ‘Super World’ 135lb strap.
Eventually, the World Boxing Association will order the two champions to fight to consolidate the titles into one.
Rolly surprised the media by facing off with Tank Davis without his shirt on. When the unbeaten #1 WBC challenger Romero was asked why he didn’t have his shirt on, he saw it as a cue to trash Tank’s sometimes chubby physique.
Where Rolly went a little overboard is saying that Tank resembled a “swine.” That’s some gratitude Rolly showed Tank for being given a second chance.
Last year, Rolly was pulled from the card after vicious allegations surfaced about him, which is necessary for Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to be used as Tank’s opponent for his December 5th fight.
Now, Rolly is getting a second chance, and it’s as if nothing has changed from last year. He showed Tank no respect at all, tearing into him, and not holding back one bit on what he thought of him.
“Because my body looks good,” said Rolly Romero when asked why he didn’t wear his shirt during the face-off with Gervonta Davis on Thursday. “I’m not a fat disgusting swine like my opponent. His body always looks like s***.
“Even when he’s in shape, his body looks like s***,” said Rolly. “I don’t like the way he looks, I don’t like his face. I’m not a very cuddly person,” said Rolly when asked if he and Tank can ‘hug it out’ after the fight. “I don’t think he’s a very cuddly person either.
“One punch,” Rolando said about how he’ll end the fight with Tank. “I’m a superstar, I was made to be a superstar,” said Rolly.
Tank will probably get the last laugh if he defeats Rolly on May 28th, but until then, don’t expect him to go easy on the WBA lightweight champion.
“My focus is knocking out Gervota Davis on May 28th,” said Rolly. “Everyone else, the only person that would be enough to put on pay-per-view is Ryan Garcia. Everybody else is useless. I’ll fight Tank again, and I’ll knock him out a second time. First-round and first-round.
“I don’t care about that,” said Rolly when asked if he’d like to fight the winner of the June 4th undisputed lightweight clash between Geroge Kambosos Jr. and Devin Haney.
“Devin Haney isn’t a real-world champion. He got his belt via email, and they elevated Lomachenko. That doesn’t matter, he didn’t beat a real world champion for it. So nobody gives a f*** about that.
“Kambosos, congratulations, he beat Teofimo and I wish him the best. I don’t focus on small fish. I want to go after wells. The two fighters [Haney and Kambosos] that are fighting for it [undisputed] are two boring fighters.
“I am an exciting dynamic fighter, I do not want to be in boring fights. I do not want to deal with people that cannot fill up an arena, so it’s a waste of my time,” said Rolly.
If Rolly can capture the WBA title from Tank and beat him in the rematch, it would be worthwhile for him to fight for the undisputed lightweight championship if given the opportunity.
Even if Rolly doesn’t rate Kambosos, Haney, or care about the undisputed championship, the attention he would get worldwide for that fight would be priceless.
If Rolly’s entire reason for being in the sport is to make as much money as possible, becoming the undisputed champion will help serve that purpose.
“Yeah, he can fill up an arena in Australia,” said Rolly about Kambosos. “I’m fighting in America. This is my country, I was born and raised here. We’re fighting in America. I don’t care about that [going to Australia to fight Kambosos]. This is America, I’m fighting in America,” Rolly said minimizing the value of fighting Kambosos.
Rolly sounds like he doesn’t have a clue in what a win over Kambosos or Haney would do for his career.
He’s assuming that he’s going to continue to get fights against Tank Davis after this one, and that’s probably not going to be the case.
If Rolly loses to Tank, he’ll probably never get another chance again to fight him, particularly if he leaves Mayweather Promotions. For that reason, if Rolly can get a chance to fight Haney or Kambosos in the future, he needs to take it.
“I make 135 easy, I’ll make 140 easy, I’ll make 147 easy, I’ll make 154 easy,” said Rolly. “Any weight class, I’ll fight in any weight class. 160,” said Rolly when asked what weight class he thinks he’d be the strongest. “I’ll fight GGG.
“I think Pitbull Cruz sucks,” Rolly said in reacting to a question on whether he could pick up on some things that Isaac Cruz showed in his recent fight against Gervonta. “By far [Rolly asked if he’s the hardest puncher Tank will have faced].
“If you stand there in front of him [Pitbull Cruz], he’ll throw a lot of punches. If you’re very stupid, he’ll throw a lot of punches, but if you’re not very stupid, he’ll eat a lot of punches. So, yeah, I don’t think I’m very stupid.
“Zero because he’s not going to hit me. Tank is going to lose, and then I’m going to knock him out a second time if he’s not a p*****. Most belt holders get rematch clauses. No, he’s going to get knocked out.
“I don’t have a game plan to try and box him. I’m going to f*** his face up. I become a superstar, a pay-per-view star, and, yeah, just that,” said Rolly.
