By Dan Ambrose: Shawn Porter is advising Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero to “play possum” on Saturday night against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in the early rounds and then blitz him later with his power to shoot for a knockout.
In Porter’s mind, Rolly (14-0, 12 KOs) has got to knockout WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Tank Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) for him to win on Saturday because he’s NOT going to outbox him. That’s not going to happen.
Rolly, 26, hasn’t talked of wanting to win a decision against Gervonta, as he knows what he’s up against in this fight. Tank is the better boxer by far, and he’s the A-side, meaning that if the rounds are close, they’ll be given to him by the judges.
Tank vs. Romero are headlining this Saturday, May 28th on Showtime PPV at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Rolly should disguise his power
“I think Rolly should disguise his power, and disguise when he wants to come in and that’s going to take some rounds,” said Shawn Porter to Fighthype on what Rolly Romero should do to defeat Tank Davis.
“Allow some rounds to go by, and then start to turn it on. To me, that’s the best thing he can do,” Porter continued on what Rolly should do to win.
“If he shows coach Cal and he shows Tank what he wants to do from the start, they’ll figure it out and adjust. I don’t think Rolly knows how to move that well.
“Play possum, as simple as that. Figure out a good way to play possum, and figure out a way to disguise your power and come and explode.
“You can’t outbox Tank. You land two good punches in one round, and you got to move the rest of the round because if you try to go back in there and do it again, you might get pieced up or you might give up those two punches that you landed, you might give that up,” Porter said.
It’s going to be difficult for Rolly to disguise his power if Tank jumps on him continually in the first four rounds. Tank hits too hard for Rolly to play possum, and it would be a mistake for him to let him unload at will.
If Rolly plays possum too long, he might be punch drunk and unable to go for the knockout after the fourth round.
Don’t worry about winning rounds
“I don’t think Rolly can win a boxing match against Tank Davis, but don’t even worry about the rounds,” said Porter. “You don’t count rounds. You count how long it’s going to take you to knock him out.
“You should have said more than one round because it’s going to take more than one round to knockout Tank Davis,” said Porter. “We talk about experience. When Tank is over there saying, ‘What?’
“To us, it’s funny, it’s entertaining, and we’re also like, ‘What?’ But also at the same time, Tank has been there before, he knows how to maneuver around what’s being said and what’s being asked.
“No, Tank isn’t going to stand up there and give an exquisite speech or anything like that, but he’s going to say what needs to be said. He’s going to turn it on, turn it off, and I thought he did it right.
“For sure, I’ve been there before, and a lot of fighters have been there before. We’re like, ‘This dude don’t know what’s about to happen to him.
“When you’ve got a guy saying he’s going to knock you out in one round, the only thing I would do is laugh at you and say, ‘You don’t know what it’s like until that bell rings,'” said Porter.
