NEW YORK – Making a fight before another is complete has long been a hazardous undertaking in prizefighting, and those involved in allowing Ryan Garcia to fight Rolando “Rolly” Romero before Devin Haney now have one of the darker tales to share.
In a scintillating showing as a 7-to-1 betting underdog, Las Vegas’ Romero knocked down Garcia in the second round, captured the WBA secondary welterweight belt by unanimous decision and took a great deal of shine off the planned late-fall rematch between bitter rivals Garcia and Haney.
“I’ll talk it over with the team and see what we’ll do,” a stunned Garcia, 24-2, said after judges awarded Romero, 17-2, the victory by scores of 115-112, 115-112, 118-109 at Times Square. “Hats off to Rolly.”
An individual familiar with the deal but unauthorized to speak publicly about it told BoxingScene on Friday night that Romero, by winning, is due to replace Garcia and fight Haney in the early fall.
Garcia promoter Oscar De La Hoya told BoxingScene after the bout that Garcia-Haney II will happen “eventually.”
“Devin and Ryan can have their rematch,” Romero said in the ring, keeping a promise the former WBA 140lbs titleholder made after replacing former 140lbs belt holder Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz as Garcia’s opponent in the unique event that drew hundreds toward a ring they were kept from viewing because of a red-blanketed chain-link fence that surrounded the ring.
Garcia felt their pain by not seeing the crushing pair of Romero left hands that sent him to the canvas early in the second round.
After Haney posted a victory over Jose Ramirez in Friday’s undercard in another display of ring rust, Romero, 29, complicated the Garcia-Haney rematch plans with a thunderous left to the head, adding another that clinched the surprise, and muted Garcia for that round and the next.
Garcia, 26, had been gone from the ring for one year and 12 days after his three-knockdown majority decision victory over Haney. It was a controversial outcome that was converted to a no-contest by the New York State Athletic Commission after Garcia submitted three positive test results for the banned performance-enhancing drug ostarine.
Haney also remained out of the ring the entire time, and it showed in a bout devoid of punches (110 total) that Haney, 32-0, won over former unified 140lbs champion Ramirez by unanimous decision scores 119-109, 119-109, 118-110.
Romero-Garcia was also a highly inactive session, with Romero outlanding Garcia in total punches, 65-54.
At 26, Garcia spent his layoff splitting from the instability of alcohol use and crazed social-media posts to reunite with trainer Derrick James while setting out to win his first belt, which the sanctioning body generously put on the line for him.
Instead, it went to Romero after he had previously worn the WBA 140lbs belt.
In Garcia, he finally met up with a rival he sparred (and insisted he got the better of) as they worked their way up as talented, young professionals.
Romero professed to BoxingScene before the bout that the move up to welterweight would bring him valued comfort to complement the wisdom he has absorbed by training under famed Cuban cornerman Ismael Salas in Las Vegas.
Romero, not sold on Garcia from the Haney showing because of Garcia’s ineffectiveness outside of the knockdowns, wasn’t over-respectful of Garcia’s crushing left hook in the first round, standing toe-to-toe with him.
In the second, Romero uncorked the wicked left that planted Garcia on the chin and sent him to the canvas thanks to a follow-up left to the side of the head.
Garcia snapped a couple lefts to Romero’s head in the fourth, and the pair sought to stir it up again in the fifth before things settled into the type of bout that favored Garcia, giving the A-side fighter the ability to claim rounds with reduced action.
Garcia met Romero with a patented left hook to the head to open the sixth, but Romero answered by accelerating his attention to Garcia’s body.
The mystery of the scorecards struck both fighters in the seventh, as Garcia planted a left hook on Romero and Romero peppered Garcia with inside punches, seeking to nudge the judges to a 10-9 score in their favor.
Romero surged at Garcia in the eighth, asserting his intent to spring the upset, adding a flurry of lefts in the ninth to emphasize his activity.
Garcia appeared unsure of an effective response as he retreated to his corner before the 10th.
Romero landed more blows in the 10th, punctuated by a hard right that inspired Garcia to cover.
“He did a great job,” Garcia said. “I’m just happy I made it through and it went 12 rounds.”
In the corner, Garcia trainer James urged his fighter to produce an impassioned response that didn’t arrive in the 11th or 12th.
In an entry on his X social media account posted shortly after the fight, Garcia wrote in part, "I couldn’t do it tonight, I’m devastated and really sad that I fought the way I did. I just didn’t have it tonight felt off."
During those moments when James pleaded with Garcia in the fighter's corner, the DAZN camera panned to Devin Haney and his father-trainer, Bill Haney, sitting ringside with glum expressions as the magnitude of a second meeting with Garcia diminished right before their eyes – and in the eyes of all those who green-lit Romero-Garcia and longed to see something more.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.