By Allan Fox: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero’s coach Bullet Cromwell says Rolly won’t be taking it easy on his sparring partners anymore after a leaked video surfaced of him getting knocked out by the young prospect J’Hon Ingram today.
Bullet says that from this point forward, when Rolly is sparring, non-team members will have to leave the gym area and stand outside in the hallways because they won’t be allowed to watch or film.
According to Bullett, Rolly just wanted to help out the younger fighters, but he was told many times to take it easy. From Bullet is saying, Rolly won’t play nice guy anymore when he’s sparring because these guys see it as their moment of “glory” to try and hurt him.
Bullet says Rolly (14-1, 12 KOs) was just trying to help out a younger fighter and wasn’t going all out when he was caught by him. He doesn’t say who leaked the video, but he says they broke the code of ethics by releasing it.
Rolly doesn’t try to hurt sparring partners
“Everybody seen the bull s**t that went down today with the sparring at the Mayweather gym,” said Rolly’s trainer Bullet Cromwell to Fighthype about the knockout Romerto suffered during a sparring session with J’Hon Ingram.
“Sparring is sparring. We help those guys out. We hurt them, we stop them, but we don’t post it. The code, and the ethic is broken in boxing. If you’re sparring with someone you don’t know, and they’re not on the same team, and you got an issue, drop it.
But if you’re on the same team or claim to be on the same team are helping each other, the minute you get hurt, we could have posted it. Six times, we told Rolly to stop and chill to save them.
“If you want to be petty and cop chase, that’s fine, but you don’t do that with people you’re in the gym with every day. To me, that’s more disrespectful than anything. We’re working on some things, and one guy wants to have his glory moment. They act like they won an undisputed champion of the world and won a hundred million.
“That’s how important it was for them to go post that and to break the gym ethics for many, many years, and before we even came around, that was the gym ethics to not leak videos. That’s why I don’t allow people to videotape and film.
“Rolly is there giving them equipment, helping them out, and just by sparring, he’s helping them out. From this day forward, I’m telling you this. If you get in the ring with him, that’s your a**,” said Bullet, sending a warning that Rolly won’t take it easy on his sparring partners any longer.
“I’m not going to tell him to slow down. If I’m petty, I would show the three times he did get hurt in that sparring session or the time before when we stopped the sparring session because he [Ingram] ate a left hook, and he couldn’t handle it.
“Yesterday, he went in the survival mode and just threw something to get Rolly off of him, and Rolly wouldn’t have banged him out like that. It depends on the maturity and the integrity of people. I’ve seen the best of the best go down. In all the years I’ve been in boxing, 15 champions get knocked out cold. Not just hurt, cold.
“Even in Rolly’s last fight, he got dropped, but he stood up. He didn’t go to sleep. In the spar, he took the same shot. He got up. It’s not like they put him to sleep. When he knocks mother f***kers out, you see what happens. They going to live, they going to learn, and from here on out, it’s a whole different ballgame in 2023. Nothing is for free. If you get in the ring, that a** is ours, period,” Bullet said.
Bullet knows who leaked the video
“For me to have a discussion with people I’m around every day, it’s very disrespectful, and it’s very like, it’s unbelievable. 150%,” said Bullet when asked if this changes the dynamics. “If you’re not on my team, if you’re in the gym with us, and you’re not sparring, go outside, go to the lobby because stuff like that, there’s no room for that in boxing.
“It’s a couple of kids that I trained in the gym, and they moved on to Otis because they want to be signed with Mayweather. They think that’s the road. Anyway, you’ve got to perform. It was either Jorian or that little Asian kid, Ethan that leaked it because I saw the blue shoes and the red trunks, and I know exactly who it is. I don’t know who gave them permission to do it.
“It’s one thing to have a video and another thing to post it. Then when you see other people post it when you’re sitting there helping them, then it’s ‘Okay, good. Now we’re back to beast boxing. We’re back to f**k everybody. We’re going to line your a** up and get f**ked up,'” said Bullet.
Haters helping Rolly’s promotion for Puello fight
“Anytime Rolly’s name touches anything because Rolly has more haters than any of these fighters now because of the path he’s taken and the quickness he’s got to the top,” said Bullet. “The awkwardness of his style and the way he makes noise, people just hate everything about him, and certain people love everything about him. It’s like a 50-50 in the fan base.
“You’re haters are your best friends. They’ll come see you. They’re watching more than the people that love you. For all the hate they have for Rolly, they have the same hate for me.
“Good job, haters, in the promotion for his [Rolly] next title fight. If it’s anyone else in the sport, nobody cares, but because it’s Rolly, they’re all up or down for him,” said Bullet.
Rolly will be challenging for a world title in April against unbeaten WBA light welterweight champion Alberto Puello. If Rolly wins that fight, he’s expected to defend against Gary Antuanne Russell next if he doesn’t face one of the other champions in a unification.
