Fans are excited about the potential Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero clash, which Teofimo Lopez views as a good match-up.
WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo congratulated Rolly (15-1, 13 KOs) for potentially making life-changing money for the fight with the popular Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs), which could be shown on PPV.
Teo is friends with Rolly, who has been inactive since his controversial ninth round TKO win over Ismael Barroso last May.
That was a fight in which Tony Weeks suddenly stopped the fight after Rolly threw a flurry of punches in the ninth, all of which badly missed their mark.
The stoppage by Weeks was just as bad as last night’s fight between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Fredrick Lawson he halted in the first round. Like Rolly, Vergil Jr. threw a flurry of punches, all but one missed, yet Weeks jumped in and stopped it.
Respect for the hustle
“I say, congratulations to Rolando Romero. He’s going to change his family’s life with this money and with this fight. So, good for both of those guys. I think it’s a great match-up,” said Teofimo Lopez to the media about Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero fighting Ryan Garcia next.
Rolly has been begging for this fight with Ryan since shortly after his controversial win over Ismael Barroso last May.
Instead of taking the high road, showing class by offering a rematch with Barroso, Rolly immediately started talking up a fight between him and Ryan.
Now, it looks like Rolly’s hard work has finally paid off, as Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) has backed out of his planned fight against WBC 140-lb champion Devin Haney and is talking about fighting him next.
Mayweather’s Puppet Master Maneuvers
“I think Floyd [Mayweather] knows what he’s doing in navigating all of us at the same time, because you know that Floyd likes to be in the face of everything. That’s nothing disrespectful. That’s just the honest truth,” said Teofimo.
Mayweather knows what sells, and he obviously saw it as the right move for Ryan Garcia to face Rolly Romero next instead of Devin Haney.
However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that it would be foolish for Ryan to face Haney after the news of the Bay Area native’s last fight against Regis Prograis bringing in just 50K buys on DAZN PPV.
Additionally, the video of Haney bundled up like a mummy in his hotel room, trying to make the 140-lb limit for the Prograis fight was troubling. The coup de grace was the 165 lbs that Haney rehydrated to. That’s pure weight bully-type stuff.
Garcia must be strategic
“Ryan Garcia needs to take care of his career much better because you can’t do it if the guy that you’re facing is going to do the money belt, then they do the 65-35 cut. This guy [Ryan] has got the PPV buys, and Devin Haney don’t.
“Just going on the ways of everything, the guy has his career. He [Ryan] wants to do it that way. Go and get a unification bout and go fight this guy [Rolly], and then do the unification with Devin Haney later on,” said Teofimo.
