By Jack Tiernan: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero is a making a step up in class by challenging WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on Saturday night in a make or break fight for him.
For Rolly to win, he’s got to go for a knockout from the first round and stay on top of Tank (26-0, 24 KOs) in their fight on Showtime PPV at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
What we saw in Tank’s last fight against Isaac Cruz is that he’s capable of moving when he’s not comfortable with the pressure that he’s dealing with.
Against the bigger, stronger Rolly, Tank will move even more because he hits too hard for him to stand in the trenches and battle.
Prediction:
Tank wins this fight by an eighth-round knockout by wearing Rolly down and focusing on weakening him with body shots early.
Tank will be careful early
“I think I got a lot of hate that came from Floyd [Mayweather Jr],” said Tank Davis to Premier Boxing Champions. “Since they couldn’t beat Floyd, they want to give me the hate.
“I got to work a little bit harder, but since I was young, I was always the kid that they pushed harder because I was always winning and I always wanted to show them that I was better than the next kid,” continued Tank Davis.
“So that’s all it is now. I don’t really break down when they tell me that I’m not this good. But now, it’s time to show them that I am what I say I am.
“I’m taking it more seriously that I’m not just an athlete and a part-time fighter. I feel like I’m going in the right direction. I know for sure that he brings a big threat because of his power.
“He’s not awkward but he brings a different [way of fighting]. I always want to feel my opponent out before I go in there [and begin slugging].
“I know he’s got punching power, so I definitely am going to be learning his power and his best things in there before I try to take him out,” said Tank Davis about Rolly.
Gervonta plans on frustrating Rolly
“I didn’t duck him in sparring. I think I’ve got it on my phone,” said Tank about his missed sparring sessions with Rolly. “I feel as though I have experience as far as an amateur, and I sparred with a lot of guys. I had 200 and something amateur fights.
“He just started at 17, so there’s nothing he can bring to the table that I haven’t saw before. I’m not overlooking him, but I’m aware of what he’s bringing to the table.
“I think I’m going to frustrate him,” said Tank Davis.
The only way Tank frustrates Rolly is if he chooses to box him, and that seems out of character to the type of fighter that he’s been in the past.
“I understand emotions are running high, but the last thing anyone wants is someone to twist an ankle or threaten the fight,” said Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza to Fighthype, talking about Rolly being pushed off the stage by Tank Davis on Friday.
“I get it. This isn’t fencing or ping pong and there are a lot of emotions in it. Your heart kind of skips a beat when that happens because you don’t want anybody to get hurt.
“Unfortunately, that’s the society we live in nowadays on how that stuff sells. I don’t think that’s a reason to do it, and that we want to lean in too much. It happens, it happened on Canelo-Plant, but we don’t want to make that a regular part of the sport.
“It’s short-term thinking. It might generate some more tomorrow, but it’s not good for the sport. I think people are going to be surprised in the same way that people look back at the [Isaac] Cruz fight and say, ‘That wasn’t Tank at his best.’
“No, it wasn’t. It’s just that he was fighting a fighter that was better than everyone thought. I’m not saying that Rolly is going to surprise everybody with his skills on Saturday night, but he’s big, he’s strong and he’s awkward,” said Espinoza.
Rolando is motivated
“We all know that one punch can change everything,” Espinoza continued.”He’s motivated, he’s in better shape, he’s been on weight for four weeks, and he’s been cut up for weeks. He’s thought nothing of this since he lost the opportunity last December,” said Espinoza about Rolly.
“I think it’s going to be a more competitive fight than people think. They can happen,” said Espinoza about whether fights between Tank and Ryan Garcia & Devin Haney can be made.
It’s going to come down to whether Rolly can land one of his big shots to knockout Tank because there’s no way he’s going to win a decision.
As we saw in Rolly’s fight with Jackson Marinez in 2020, he struggles against fighters with boxing skills.
Tank has more skills & power than Marinez, so there’s little chance that Rolly is going to be able to win unless he lands a big shot to score a knockout. Do think he can? Yes, it’s highly doubtful that Rolly will because Tank isn’t going to be as wide open against him as he was in his last fight against the tiny 5’4″ Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz.
“As long as there’s some flexibility and there’s value. If somebody is setting hard & fast rules, then that’s difficult to work with. If such and such a fight is going to happen, it’s only going to happen with these terms.
“No one is going to react to that well. But if it’s ‘let’s figure it out’ and give & take here and there. That’s the thing. We don’t talk a lot about it upfront because personally, I don’t think it’s good for the deal.
“We’ve been chasing the big fights, and have engaged in those discussions with Ryan Garcia more than once. So much so that on the Charlo fight, we opened up a little bit because they were starting a narrative that Jermall wasn’t looking for big fights.
“So we opened it up because it wasn’t a fair narrative. You saw us persuing the Canelo fight [for Jermall Charlo]. You saw us persuing the [Jaime] Munguia fight, and ended up with [Maciej] Sulecki [for Jermall].
“That’s sort of the exception. We don’t always talk about it, but we’ve been trying to make those fights behind the scenes. We just need a little cooperation with the other guys involved.
“It’s all on the table,” said Espinoza about the possibility of Tank fighting Devin Haney. “The only way Tank is going to continue to grow is to get the big fights.
“Now, if somebody is going to demand that he go to Australia, there is some flexibility,” said Espinoza.
