Promoter Leonard Ellerbe insists that he’s a good thing that WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero is the underdog against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz on Saturday night on Prime Video PPV in their co-feature bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ellerbe says he “loves” that Rolly (15-1,13 KOs) is the underdog because he can tell everyone, “I told you so,” afterward when he defeats the favorite, ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KOs).
The Art of The Excuse
Of course, if Rolly gets wiped out by Cruz, Ellerbe will have to come up with something different. In the aftermath of Rolly’s loss, Ellerbe may need to do some groveling. Hopefully, he doesn’t come up with a conspiracy theory to explain away his loss to muddy the water and confuse gullible, impressionable fans.
The real reason the oddsmakers have Rolly as the underdog is his erratic fighting style and lack of skills. Also, they probably saw Rolly’s last fight against Ismael Barroso and noted how a blown call by the referee gave him a victory.
“Pitbull Cruz is coming, and he’s got to fight the fight of his life. He’s talking that talk. ‘Oh, I’m going to do this and do that,’ but he knows what he’s up against,” said promoter Leonard Ellerbe to the media about challenger Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz going up against underdog, WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, who physically is much bigger than him, but terribly flawed talent-wise.
Ellerbe’s shpiel about Pitbull knowing what he’s up against sounds more like wishful thinking because he views Rolly as his main course dinner on Saturday night, and he can’t wait to eat. In Pitbull’s view, Rolly is food, and he can’t wait to chomp him down and rip away his WBA title.
“He knows he’s going to have to come get it, and it’s up to Rolly to deny him that. We know he’s coming head-on one way,” said Ellerbe. “It’s up to Rolly to make him change his mind, and have him going in a different direction.
“I love the fact that Rolly is an underdog in this fight. I love that. He can have fun. Not only is he going to win the fight, but he’s going to win it an impressive fashion, and then we’ll be able to say, ‘I told you so,” said Ellerbe.
Rolly’s Conspiracy Corner
“It’s all statistics,” said Rolly when asked why the oddsmakers have him an underdog. “Also, you have to look at it like this. There’s a lot of Mexicans, and they’re going to bet on Pitbull. It’s all a money game,” said Rolly trying to make sense of why he’s the underdog, and coming up with a wacky theory.
