Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) may have spoiled Turki Alalshikh’s plans by defeating Ryan Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) by a decisive 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at Times Square in New York City.
The scores were 115-112, 115-112, 118-109.
After an uneventful first round, Rolly attacked in round two, bum rushing Kingry, landing two huge left hands to put him down on the canvas. Ryan looked shaken up after the action resumed, but he made it out of the round.
Romero, 29, fought passively in rounds 3 through 6. However, he came back strong starting in the ninth, and appeared to sweep the last four rounds with his power punching and strong jabs.
Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) did the absolute minimum, beating Jose Ramirez (32-3, 18 KOs) by a painfully dull 12-round unanimous decision in the chief support fight on tonight’s disappointing Fatal Fury card at Times Square in New York City. The scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 118-110.
It was as quiet as a cemetery at midnight, the VIP crowd in attendance had nothing to scream because Haney was fighting cautiously, moving around the ring, throwing single stay-away punches, and clinching to keep Ramirez off. There was so little action in many of the rounds that it was difficult to score them for either fighter.
However, Ramirez was too slow and not pulling the trigger on his punches. He looked like a textbook example of a washed fighter. That explains why he was picked as Haney’s comeback opponent for this event. He was deemed harmless after being well-vetted.
Teofimo Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) successfully defended his WBO light welterweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision against his mandatory challenger Arnold Barboza Jr. (32-1, 11 KOs) in a fight that arguably should have been scored a draw. The scores were 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110. It was NOT an impressive performance by Lopez unless his goal was to imitate Shakur Stevenson, which he did quite well.
Lopez moved constantly, trying to avoid getting hit, and clowning for seemingly no reason. There was no reason for Teofimo to showboat because he wasn’t throwing any punches. It was pure defensive moves to keep from getting hit. He succeeded at that, but he landed almost nothing himself.
Reito Tsutsumi crushed Levale Whittington with brutal precision, leaving him no chance to fight back. The judges’ scorecards read 60-54, 60-54, 58-56 — a nice performance that showed Tsutsumi’s dominance from start to finish.
James Gennari dismantled Joel Allen with ruthless aggression, never letting up until the final bell. A unanimous decision was inevitable as Gennari left Allen battered and broken, controlling every moment of the fight.