Lightweight contender Rolando “Rolly” Romero is really good at talking trash. He’s also good at getting under people’s skin and making headline-friendly declarations.
This is probably why he’s been fast-tracked to the boxing main stage and slotted as the B-side against rising superstar Gervonta “Tank” Davis this coming May.
And, clearly, he doesn’t have much respect for a Davis who is starting to get recognition as a dominant, pound-for-pound, elite-level fighter.
“Respect? What does that even mean? We’re in a boxing ring trying to kill each other. There’s no time for respect. He’s someone you shouldn’t respect anyway. He’s a f**** piece of s***,” Rolly told FightHype.com when asked about respecting “Tank” Davis.
Romero and Davis were scheduled to fight late last year, but allegations of sexual assault against Romero led to him being pulled from his pay-per-view debut and the biggest opportunity of his young career. Mexican battler Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz replaced Romero that night and ended up giving Davis a much harder time than anticipated.
But “Rolly” still had plenty to say, even with a police investigation pending and his career in jeopardy.
“He’s a f**** p****,” Romero blasted. “He’s starting to promote the fight after I can’t fight no more. He’s so happy that I can’t fight. It’s like he’s beyond happy right now. He’s a textbook definition of a b****.
“Pitbull Cruz is a fat f***. Gervonta, if you don’t knock him out in less than three rounds, I’m disappointed. That’s the truth. But he’s going to knock him out, and I’m going to knock Tank the f*** out.
“They didn’t want me to fight. They didn’t want me to whoop Tank’s a**. They wanted Tank to fight Pitbull Cruz. Tank didn’t want to fight me.”
Shortly after Davis decisioned Cruz on December 5, a police investigation cleared Romero and no charges were filed against him. The stage would be set to revisit Davis-Romero.
An out-of-sorts Romero would lament publicly his lost opportunity at the time.
“I was gonna buy my mother a house for Christmas, you know,” he said via Instagram live video. “I had so many f****** goals, I had so many f****** dreams…People don’t realize how f***** up this situation actually was because it was my opportunity. And a lot of people, even after Gervonta’s last performance, say I would’ve won that fight and I would’ve hurt him and I would have knocked him out…I got my dream taken from me.”
But with this second chance at Davis made available to him, the 26-year-old is talking big about making the most of this opportunity.
There are some who give this brash, big-talking admittedly savage and disrespectful power puncher a decent chance of scoring the upset this May.
Despite the headlines he makes for his outgoing, trash-talking ways, another reason for Romero’s quick rise is his all-action, all-aggression ring style and one punch KO power. Although his 14-0 record, comprised of the usual wins over journeymen, club fighters, and fringe contenders, shows the careful, calculated climb of a young prospect, his ring presence belies something more. There’s some legit star power in the free-swinging Las Vegas native. There’s also the legit cockiness of someone used to having his way in the ring, who came up in the amateurs and the pro ranks as a guy who, despite some crudeness to his game, could– and would– will his way to devastating victories.
The 27-year-old Davis, meanwhile, is not exactly lacking in cockiness and most definitely not lacking in power as one of the most respected knockout punchers in the game.
“Rolly is just here to talk,” Davis said back in October, when the two were promoting their first run at a fight. “He’s trying to talk his way into winning, but he’s scared. I’m coming to fight…His skills are not up to par with mine. He can’t even talk about power, because everyone knows I’m bringing it.
“He’s been talking for a long time. He’s trying to sell a fight, but I’m going to show him that he’s a chump…I’m not here to talk, I’m here to fight.”
Davis vs. Romero is going to be really good…while it lasts.
