Rolando Romero wasn’t impressed by Gervonta Davis’ performance in his last fight.
Davis’ upcoming opponent still doesn’t think the unbeaten WBA world lightweight champion came close to losing to Isaac Cruz. Romero (14-0, 12 KOs), who will challenge Davis (26-0, 24 KOs) on May 28 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, believes Davis did enough during their 12-round, 135-pound championship match to win comfortably.
Judges Carla Caiz and Max De Luca scored seven rounds apiece for Davis, who won 115-113 on their cards. Judge Zachary Young scored eight rounds for the Baltimore native, 116-112.
Romero assessed Davis’ performance against Mexico’s Cruz during a recent appearance on Brian Custer’s “The Last Stand Podcast,” which is available on YouTube.
“I mean, Tank didn’t perform as well that fight,” Romero said. “But, I mean, a lot of people say Isaac Cruz won the fight and all that stuff. I don’t think he won the fight. I think Tank won that fight convincingly, you know? Regardless of his performance, it’s just he had a difficult fight with some dude that he thought he could get out of there and he couldn’t get out of there.”
The 27-year-old Davis aggravated an injury to his left hand early in his victory over Cruz. An aggressive, durable Cruz took Davis’ best shots, had more success overall than any of Davis’ previous opponents and ended the popular knockout artist’s 16-fight knockout streak.
Romero replied “yes and no” when Custer asked him if Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs) has provided a blueprint for defeating Davis in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event.
“Well, Gervonta just doesn’t like going backwards,” Romero said. “And Cruz just pressured him, stayed tight [with his defense] the entire time and just pressured him the entire time. And I don’t think Gervonta hurt Cruz at all that fight. Actually, I think the person getting hurt was Gervonta.”
Cruz, 23, replaced Romero late in October as Davis’ opponent because a woman reported to police in Henderson, Nevada, that Romero sexually assaulted her at some point in the fall of 2019. Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime jointly decided to remove Romero from the Davis fight while that sexual assault allegation was investigated.
Charges were not filed against Romero based on that investigation. Once the 26-year-old contender was cleared, Mayweather Promotions and PBC moved toward rescheduling his fight versus Davis.
DraftKings has established Davis as a 9-1 favorite to beat Romero in another Showtime Pay-Per-View main event.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.