Rolly Romero is thankful that the testing process prevented him from fighting an opponent Saturday night who used a banned substance.
Romero believes boxing has a long way to go, though, before his sport is anything resembling clean.
“I know a lotta these people are on that sh!t,” Romero told BoxingScene.com. “I ain’t that kinda person [to name names], but a lot of these motherf------ on that sh!t. I think it’s f------- disgusting. It takes away from boxing being legit. It’s sad.”
The 28-year-old Romero was supposed to battle Alberto Puello for the WBA super lightweight title Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Puello (21-0, 10 KOs), a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, was removed from their fight last month and has been rendered the WBA’s champion in recess because he failed for clomiphene in a performance-enhancing drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
The fifth-ranked Romero (14-1, 12 KOs) will instead face Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso (24-3-2, 22 KOs), the WBA’s mandatory challenger, in a 12-round fight for WBA’s vacant 140-pound championship.
Puello likely will be stripped of the WBA’s super lightweight title if his B sample comes back positive for clomiphene. He has a hearing scheduled with the Nevada State Athletic Commission for May 17 regarding his temporary suspension.
Clomiphene is also the banned substance for which Conor Benn tested positive prior to his canceled October 8 fight against British rival Chris Eubank Jr. It is commonly prescribed to women who struggle with infertility, but it can act as a performance enhancer in male athletes because it increases testosterone in the body.
Romero condemned Puello and anyone else who uses PEDs because they put their opponents’ lives even more at risk in what is already a dangerous sport.
“It’s just cheating and it’s half-assing sh!t. You know?,” said Romero, who noted that he has been tested five times by VADA during training camp. “This is not a normal sport. It’s not, ‘Oh, I’m gonna play basketball. Maybe my worst injury will be I twist my ACL.’ Or maybe soccer. No, it’s, ‘I’m gonna punch you in the face and leave you brain dead.’ That PED sh!t is no joke because you’re literally harming somebody’s health.
“It’s not like other sports. In other sports, you get caught with that stuff, it’s a joke. If you get caught in boxing with that sh!t, you shouldn’t be able to box ever again because at that point you’re hurting somebody’s health. You could kill somebody. People die in boxing all the damn time.”
Romero will fight Saturday night for the first time since rival Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) stopped him in the sixth round of their lightweight fight last May 28 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The North Las Vegas native is listed by some sportsbooks as a 14-1 favorite to beat Barroso, who is 40 years old.
The Romero-Barroso bout will headline a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. PDT).
Cuban contender Rances Barthelemy (29-2-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) will oppose Omar Juarez (14-1, 5 KOs), of Brownsville, Texas, in the 10-round co-feature Saturday night. This three bout-broadcast will begin with a 12-round WBA super lightweight elimination match between Uzbekistan’s Batyr Akhmedov (9-2, 8 KOs) and Chicago’s Kenneth Sims Jr. (19-2-1, 7 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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