Nonito Donaire says that Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero’s “GGG” heavy hands were a key factor in his win over Ryan Garcia last Friday night at Times Square in New York. Donaire states that Rolly’s strength made Ryan (24-2, 20 KOs) “Think otherwise: about fighting aggressively against him after he dropped him in the second round.
‘GGG’ Power Factor
He notes that Garcia wasn’t willing to exchange with Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) like he’d done with Devin Haney last April due to his GGG-like power. Ryan had to worry about getting clipped again if he opened up with his check left hook.
Donaire mentions the Ostarine PED that Garcia had tested positive for after his win against Haney. He says he doesn’t know if that showed the difference in that fight. Boxing fans on social media note that Ryan’s physical appearance, how he fought, and the power he showed against Haney appeared different.
“Ostarine is a hell of a drug. Maybe that could be a part of it. I never used it, but it showed the difference of the fight,” said Nonito Donaire to Sean Zittel, talking about the outcome of the Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero contest last Friday night at Times Square.
Ryan looked stronger and more fearless against Haney than he did in the Rolly fight. Whether his lackluster performance against Romero was due to inactivity or not being on something is unclear. He was nowhere near as effective.
“I think the difference is that Haney and Rolly are two different fighters,” said Donaire. “Rolly is very awkward, but he has what they call the retarded power. Retard strength. When he dropped Ryan, he made him think otherwise. With Devin, he wasn’t that kind of fighter. And, it was more comfortable for Ryan to throw a punch with a punch,”. But with Rolly, he didn’t want to play that game.”
Romero has enormous strength, and he always has. But now that he’s fighting at 147, he’s stronger because he’s not stripping muscle to make weight. He’s an abnormally strong guy who doesn’t need to lift weights to be that way. You can’t blame Garcia for not wanting to take chances against Rolly after he was dropped in round two. It would have been insane for Ryan to continue mixing it up with him afterward. I don’t think he ever fully recovered.
“I think so. With the way he fought this time, he’s going to do well against Tank,” said Donaire, when asked if he’d like to see a rematch between Rolly Romero and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
The only way a rematch between Rolly and Tank Davis could happen is if they agree on a catchweight above 140. Rolly isn’t going to kill himself to drain back down to a strength-draining catchweight to give Tank a handicap the way Ryan did. He doesn’t need to do that now. With Romero’s win over Garcia, he will get a big payday in a rematch or against IBF and WBA welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. Rolly is now the WBA ‘regular’ 147-lb champion, putting him in an excellent spot for a money fight.
‘Hammer-Type’ Punches
“I think Rolly can go down to 140. I think Rolly does it. Rolly is one of those wild card kind of things,” said Donaire. “Sometimes, a fighter just fits his style, and sometimes a fighter doesn’t. So with Rolly, with the way he fought against Ryan, it fit that style. With Boots, it might not be,” said Donaire about how Rolly would do against IBF and WBA welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
“It might work with Boots. I don’t know because the way Rolly is, he’s unpredictable. But the way he fought this time, it was a different Rolly. He’s heavy-handed. He’s one of those guys like a GGG, a heavy-handed kind of guy,” said Donaire about Romero. “Not so much speed, but thudding, hammer-type of punches.”
