WBA junior welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero 15-1 (13) says Ryan Garcia 24-1 (20) doesn’t deserve to share a ring with him, but promised to give him a beating if they ever fought.
The 25-year-old Garcia knocked out Oscar Duarte 26-2 (21) in eight rounds in their 143-pound catchweight bout at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday night before turning his attention to Romero in his post-fight interview.
It was his first fight back after being stopped in the seventh round by dangerous southpaw Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 29-0 (27) in their 136-pound catchweight bout back in April.
“I’m committing to becoming a world champion,” Garcia said. “If Rollys wants that, bring it on Rollys. I know you talk a lot. Let’s get that going, Rollys. Where you at?”
Romero responded in an interview with FightHype.
“I don’t think he deserves it. He does not deserve to share the ring with me,” Romero said.
“It’s not the biggest pay-per-view because it’s a fight that’s been long overdue. I’ve been calling him out since April 20th, 2017. It’s a fight that has been long-awaited by me, the boxing media, and the fans. It’s one of those mega-fights.
“You get me, the greatest salesman in the world. Then you get pretty princess [Garcia] over there. It sounds like a good time. I hope so.
“I’m still dealing with some stuff on my end. I haven’t been well, but I think that sounds beautiful. I’m healing.
“I think a lot of people miss old Rolly coming in there. I have to see if that fight gets made. I don’t want to say too much because maybe I say two or three words and maybe he gets depression and retires for a year, or we don’t know what’s really there.
“Maybe he’s speaking out of his ass. Maybe it’s some bullshit. We don’t know. But I know if the fight does get signed, it’s going to be one of the biggest fights this year.”
Garcia also took aim at Romero’s last opponent, 40-year-old Venezuelan southpaw Ismael Barroso 24-4-2 (22), who the 28-year-old fought for the vacant belt in his last bout in May.
It proved to be a tougher than expected fight with Romero trailing on all three judges’ cards by scores of 75-76, 74-77 and 73-78 at the time of the ninth-round stoppage.
“You got beat up by that old dude,” Garcia said. “We know what happened. Don’t be trying to fake it.”
Romero replied: “Let’s put this in perspective. I got Barroso on two weeks’ notice. I didn’t fight for a whole year. I couldn’t even find sparring partners in time for Barroso.”
“On top of that, this dude was a tremendous puncher. He punched hard. I wasn’t going to take no damn risks. I took my time.”