After Being Robbed In His Fight With Rolly Romero, Ismael Barroso Gets Deserved Second Title Shot Of The Year, Will Face Ohara Davies On Dec 2
Back in May, fans witnessed one of the worst calls made by a referee in many a year. 40 year old Ismael Barroso was beating the brakes off Rolly Romero, with the veteran from Venezuela dropping Romero, outboxing him, with Barroso also out-punching Romero. Then, inexplicably in the ninth round, after Romero had pushed Barroso to the canvas, Tony Weeks dived in, this after all of Romero’s follow-up punches missed. Replays showed just what a bad call the usually fine Weeks made. Fans were outraged over the manner in which the older man, a 10/1 underdog, had been robbed of his chance to become WBA 140 pound champ (the belt being vacant on the night). At the time of the stoppage, Barroso was ahead on all three cards.
Now, in a fight that can be looked at as a reward after being robbed, Barroso will get another title chance. Barroso, 24-4-2(22) will face Britain’s Ohara Davies for the vacant WBA interim belt (Romero being sidelined due to an apparent injury, with almost everyone feeling Davies would have beaten Romero soundly had their fight have gone ahead). The fight will take place on December 2, at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas, on the under card of Ryan Garcia’s comeback fight against Oscar Duarte.
No doubt, Barroso will enter the ring as a pretty big betting underdog once again, largely due to his age. However, Barroso is far better than some would think by looking at him, and he for sure shocked the heck out of Rolly. Can Barroso now do the same to Davies, 25-2(18)? Davies, aged 31, is coming off a very impressive body shot stoppage of Lewis Ritson, who he took out in March. Beaten only by Josh Taylor (a stoppage loss) and Jack Catterall (a decision loss), Davies is a real talent. Again, Barroso will no doubt be written off by plenty of people before the first bell sounds.
But Barroso, an easy guy to root for, as humble as he is, deserves this chance (in an ideal world, he would have got a return go at Romero). Look for Barroso to make the most of it on December 2.
Davies says he has full respect for Barroso.
“It’s gonna be a tough fight because Barroso should be the real WBA champion as he was smoking Rolly Romero,” Davies said to RingTV.com
Barroso was indeed “smoking Rolly” when they fought in May.
