Rolly Romero provides all the prerequisites Manny Pacquiao and his team are seeking in an opponent for Pacquiao’s next fight.
He knows how to sell a fight – as Romero’s pay-per-views against Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis attest – and he’s enthused by the notion of a matchup with Pacquiao.
“A Hall of Famer on my resume, who wouldn’t want that? That’s the easiest way to get into the Hall of Fame, right?” Romero, 17-2 (13 KOs), asked BoxingScene on Monday upon learning Pacquiao advisor Sean Gibbons has anointed the 29-year-old Las Vegas fighter as the favorite to fight Pacquiao next.
Soured by the scoring of Pacquiao’s Saturday bout with WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios as a draw, Gibbons said he views Barrios in disfavor for failing to engage more often with Pacquiao.
“Manny, even at 46, showed up like he always does, but after Manny tagged the guy a few times, he calmed down,” Gibbons said of Barrios. “They robbed Manny Pacquiao of history … because the guy stayed on his bike running. Mario Barrios … lost the fight, and my heart bleeds for Manny Pacquiao.”
The judges scored the bout a majority draw, with a 115-113 card for Barrios and two 114-114 scores.
“I was happy about fighting Barrios,” Gibbons said. “I thought he’d bring the fight to Manny and we’d really have a battle, but after Barrios got cracked a few times, he was fighting like Manny was an ICE agent.”
Gibbons said he has no doubt what Romero’s intentions are after the new titleholder decked Garcia in the second round of their May 2 main event at New York’s Times Square, and has flashed a propensity to deliver knockout blows.
“We can do it,” Romero said. “Everything has to make sense. It’s going to be a fan favorite. That makes sense right there.”
Gibbons said Barrios, 29-2-1, brings only a belt to a Pacquiao bout, when he’s seeking someone more provocative to help fuel pay-per-view buys and stir the public interest.
Romero has proven brash and resilient, winning a lightweight belt in 2021 before getting knocked out by the unbeaten Davis in 2022. He came back to stop Ismael Barroso in 2023 for a 140lbs title, only to lose that belt by TKO to Pacquiao protege Isaac Cruz in 2024. He then defeated Garcia for the WBA 147lbs interim belt and was later elevated to full titleholder upon Jaron “Boots” Ennis moving to 154lbs.
“You know, it must be a blessing when legends are calling you out,” Romero said. “If a legend is asking to make a fight with you, that says something. And it’s not only because of the belt … it’s because I can sell the fight, too, and I’m on par with who he is. That speaks highly of how much potential I truly have.”
Romero attended Pacquiao’s victory at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“A legend is going to be a legend,” Romero said of Pacquiao’s showing at age 46, coming off his four-year absence and only one month removed from his International Boxing Hall of Fame induction.
“It was a close fight, regardless – not to take anything away from Mario Barrios,” Romero said. “But I personally saw Pacquiao winning. A lot of people had Pacquiao winning. Barrios only clearly won the last three rounds. I feel like Pacquiao was winning the others, stealing some of them with these bursting moments” to close rounds.
Gibbons said Pacquiao’s endurance and activity out-did Barrios.
“Some thought it was going to be a Muhammad Ali thing [in Ali’s next-to-last fight, a vicious beating versus Larry Holmes],” Gibbons said. “Now they realize, it’s what Manny said it was: ‘I’m back.’”
One thing that irked Romero was watching the champion Barrios walk to the ring first.
“Like I said, if everything makes sense. … For instance, he’s walking out first,” Romero said of Pacquiao.”He had Barrios walk out first. What kind of shit is that, bro? The champion walks out second. It’s disrespectful.
“Regardless of that, it’s a fight that can definitely get made.”
Romero understands how Pacquiao’s drawing power could make this his richest purse yet.
“It’s not about money. Everyone’s chasing all that. … I’m not a person who boxes for money, and I think I’ve proven that enough times,” he said. “Have I not expressed that enough times?”
That authenticity remained when he was asked if he would like to pass on any message to Pacquiao.
“Tell him, ‘Congratulations, champ.’ I saw him win that fight,” Romero said. “He’s a hell of a fighter. He’s a legend, and may God always bless him.”
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.
