Rolly Romero: Big pay, looming fights 'messing up the sport'

LOS ANGELES – Rolly Romero has made no secret about the shoddy way he was treated as the “B side” fighter to Ryan Garcia in the Saudi Arabia-funded promotion of Friday’s Times Square card in New York.

In hindsight, going without a hotel room booked, fretting about no purse funds in escrow and opting to walk to the venue himself may have been the best thing that ever happened to Romero.

On a weekend that the handsomely paid Garcia, co-main-event fighter Devin Haney and Saudi Arabia headliner Canelo Alvarez all turned in clunker showings void of action, Romero, 17-2 (13 KOs, produced a knockdown-paced unanimous-decision victory to capture the WBA secondary welterweight belt and position himself strongly for big fights of his choosing.

At first glance from his newfound perch, Romero said he wouldn’t mind waiting for Manny Pacquiao to defeat WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios Jnr in their tentatively planned July 19 bout in Las Vegas.

As Alvarez, Haney and Garcia have been criticized for low-punch outputs in outings that ruined a planned high-profile Garcia-Haney showdown in the fall and dampened enthusiasm for Alvarez’s September 12 bout against fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford, Romero was hailed by his promoter Premier Boxing Champions as a beacon to how champions should perform.

“Look, it comes down to this – and this comes from a fighter – you guys shouldn’t be overpaying fighters because then it makes them not want to have to perform, especially when they have another fight lined up,” Romero told BoxingScene in a special interview session with reporters. “Then it’s, ‘All I have to do is survive this fight for the next paycheck.’ It’s really messing up the sport.

“They’ve got to do it like the UFC does: you have a shit performance, [then], ‘Fuck you, you all not getting paid no goddamn money.’ It’s taking away the hunger of these fighters. They’ve got a guaranteed check next. They’re protecting their ‘0.’ I’ve got two losses, but both of my losses came in big fights. It’s never derailed anything. I keep coming back. I have balls because I keep coming back and going after what I want.”

Romero was intent to draw that distinction, a point supported by his promoter, Tom Brown, and former super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant at Wednesday’s press event to promote Plant’s May 31 bout against Armando Resendiz at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

“These other guys keep protecting their ‘0,’ and saying, ‘Oh it’s not enough money, so I’m not going to fight.’” Romero said. “I fight for belts. I fight for legacy. These other guys who’ll only fight for [that] money, it’s sad and it’s destroying the sport.” 

Brown said while the plan is for Plant and unbeaten former two-division champion Jermall Charlo to fight after winning their respective bouts on May 31, he is confident the drive and character of the fighters should ensure that happens.

Simply paying elite fighters to carry out that mission has clearly been revealed as a flawed business plan.

“I’m going to handle business in impressive fashion and then we’ll go from there,” Plant said.

Given all the pre-fight disruption he endured, Romero clarified that, “I got paid.”

And now, after the Times Square main-event triumph, he’s guaranteed himself he’ll be paid more lucratively next time.