Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) showed improvements in his game with his discipline and new fighting style to defeat favorite Ryan Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the WBA ‘regular’ welterweight title on Saturday night at Times Square in New York.
Romero’s Power
The big power shots Romero hit Garcia with early made him hesitant to throw. He knew that if he did let his hands go, he might get knocked out by Rolando. Instead, Ryan played it safe, choosing to lose by a decision rather than get KO’d.
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🎥 MUST WATCH: Ryan García very emotional and in tears after lopsided loss to Rolly Romero. #BrunchBoxing pic.twitter.com/eCdW99STtN— Brunch Boxing (@BrunchBoxing) May 3, 2025
You can’t blame Garcia because the punches that Romero threw in the fight in the early rounds were scary powerful. After Garcia got dropped in round two, he looked like he made a conscious decision not to go for the win.
Rolly looked different tonight, not fighting recklessly and leaving himself open. In the second round, he pounced on Garcia, hitting him with two powerful left hands that dropped him. The first left stunned Ryan, and the second put him down.
The scores were 115-112, 115-112, 118-109.
The left hooks that Ryan landed on Rolly, he took them well, perhaps due to the added weight that he’s packed on from the move to welterweight. Rolly looked a lot stronger and more muscular for this fight than he had for his fights at 140 and 135. The punches that would have hurt Romero in those weight classes had no effect on him tonight.
Rematch in Doubt
After the fight, Devin Haney and his dad, Bill Haney, questioned Garcia about why he lost. The defeat may have spoiled Haney’s chances for a career-high payday in a rematch with Garcia. That fight is supposed to happen in October, but it’s believed that it was conditional on both of them winning their tuneup fights tonight.
So, unless Turki Alalshikh changes his mind, Haney is going to have to look in another direction. It would be interesting to see if Turki uses Rolly as Haney’s opponent now.
