Ryan Garcia dismisses Rolly Romero fight offer, wants Haney next

Image: Ryan Garcia dismisses Rolly Romero fight offer, wants Haney next
By KenWoods123 - 12/28/2023 - Comments

Ryan Garcia has dismissed a call-out from WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero and says he is focused on fighting Devin Haney next for his WBC 140-lb belt.

Initially, Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) was interested in fighting Rolly Romero, but he failed to move quickly to make the fight happen.

This leaves Rolly’s situation as the WBA champion in bad shape because he’ll need to defend that belt soon if he doesn’t want it to be stripped from him, and his chances of holding onto his belt are slim.

During a recent interview, Rolly seemed lukewarm about the fight, talking about retirement and now showing the kind of interest you would think, given that his other option was a lower-paying fight against his mandatory Ohara Davies.

Whatever the issue was, it’s too late now. Ryan has moved on. If Ryan loses to Haney, as most fans believe will be the case, he could turn back around and revisit the Rolly fight if he’s still holding the WBA 140-lb title.

Ryan’s career is teetering on shaky ground just like Rolly’s, but he’s still a viable option for champions because of his large social media following on Instagram. He’s like Jake Paul in terms of popularity, so he’s a good opponent for champions wanting to make easy money.

Rolly (15-1, 13 KOs) admitted today that he’s been on vacation for the last seven months, celebrating his ninth round TKO victory over 40-year-old Ismael Barroso last May in a fight for the vacant WBA 140-lb belt in Las Vegas.

That was a strange fight. Rolly was getting easily beaten through eight rounds, getting out-punched and outboxed by Barroso, and looking as poor as he did in his loss to Gervonta Davis.

In the ninth, the referee Tony Weeks suddenly jumped in and stopped the fight after Rolly threw a flurry of punches, all of which missed badly. Barroso looked in shock at the stoppage, and the fans at the ringside were furious at the referee’s incompetence.