Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero will potentially be elevated to WBA Super Champion at welterweight, with Jaron Ennis officially announcing today that he’s moving to 154. Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) currently holds the WBA ‘Regular’ 147-lb title after defeating Ryan Garcia to capture the vacant belt last May at Times Square in New York.
Romero’s Potential WBA Elevation
Many fans are unhappy that Rolly will be elevated to WBA Super Champion. His record going into his fight with Kingry last May was 2-2 in his previous four fights, and he’d never fought at welterweight. The WBA had given Rolando a #2 ranking without ever fighting in the
Why Not Giyasov vs. Romero?
Fans feel that Romero should have had to fight the #1 ranked Shakhram Giyasov for the vacant WBA belt rather than Ryan, who hadn’t fought in 13 months and was coming off a suspension after failing a drug test. Ideally, the WBA should order Romero to face Giyasov for the WBA ‘Super Champion’ status, but they won’t do that. He already holds the secondary WBA title. So, they’ll elevate him.
Rolly, 29, isn’t expected to hold onto his WBA welterweight title for long, as many boxing fans expect him to lose in his first title defense if he’s matched against a live body rather than a fighter dug up for the purses of allowing him to milk his title.
The one good thing that Romero has going for him is that he’s good at trash-talking and creates interest in his fights when he’s mentally engaged. For his fight against Garcia, he was mostly invisible during the build-up, allowing others to do the talking during the press conferences.
Since capturing the WBA title, the only fighter that Rolly has expressed interest in fighting is 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao if he dethrones WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios next month on July 19th.
The WBA’s Next Move
The WBA hasn’t ordered Romero to defend his belt against anyone yet. So, it’s possible that he could potentially get a fight against Pacquiao if he captures the WBC belt. It would be great if the WBA forced Rolly to face Giyasov or #2 Devin Haney for the Super Champion belt at 147.
At least if they did that, Romero would actually have to work for the title instead of having it given to him on a silver platter. Fans can’t respect that. If Rolly beats Giyasov or Haney, that would be saying a lot more than his win over Garcia, who looked spaced out the entire fight last May. It was like Ryan was daydreaming the whole fight and not focused after being dropped in the second round by Romero.