Ryan Garcia Dismisses Rolly Romero Fight Offer, Wants Haney Next

BOXING/MMA /

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

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

This leaves Rolly’s status as WBA champion in bad shape because he will need to defend that belt soon if he doesn’t want it taken away from him, and his chances of keeping it are slim.

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

Whatever the problem, it’s too late. Ryan has moved on. If Ryan loses to Haney, as most fans believe will be the case, he could turn around and revisit the fight with Rolly if he still holds the WBA 140-pound title.

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

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

That was a strange fight. Rolly was easily defeated for eight rounds, being out-punched and out-boxed by Barroso, and looking as poor as he did in his loss to Gervonta Davis.

In the ninth, referee Tony Weeks suddenly intervened and stopped the fight after Rolly landed a flurry of punches, all of which missed badly. Barroso was stunned by the interruption and fans in the ring were furious at the referee’s incompetence.

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