Is a fight brewing between Ryan Garcia and Rolando Romero?
In his last outing, interim WBC World Lightweight champion Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (21-0, 18 KO’s) significantly raised his stock in the boxing world. He accomplished this by taking on and defeating Luke Campbell in his first official step-up fight and title eliminator. Not only did he win, he prevailed by way of seventh round knockout. Yet, to do so, he had to survive a second round knockdown himself. With the win, he was in position to challenge Devin “The Dream” Haney who is the actual recognized WBC World Lightweight champion.
Rather than signing a contract to fight Haney however, Garcia instead made the first of several puzzling moves. Apparently, KingRy thought it a better decision to fight in another title eliminator against Javier Fortuna. According to Garcia, Haney had not yet proven himself as a champion. The Californian kid felt that his paltry resume did not excite him enough to warrant making that match. This was odd for a number of reasons. For one, there are countless interviews of KingRy saying that The Dream was one of the best talents in the division. Not only was he on record saying this, he is also known to have said that Haney would be one of his stiffest tests. Secondly, he was now quizzically fighting Fortuna for the chance to fight for Haney’s belt!
Ultimately, the nonsensical move with Fortuna became null and void when Garcia abruptly pulled out the fight. When he bailed, KingRy cited mental health issues as the reason why he was cancelling the bout. Even then, Garcia came under more fire. Rather than laying low to get himself together or going to get professional help, he posted several vacation pics of himself and a pouty-lipped vixen on a beach vacation. Now roughly three weeks after pulling the rug from beneath Javier Fortuna, there are rumblings that Garcia is going to face Rolando “Rolly” Romero (13-0,11 KO’s).
YOU’RE FIGHTING WHO NOW?!
Naturally, this is a new development. If it comes to fruition, it will rub many the wrong way. To begin, while its no fault of Romero’s, Rolly is completely unproven as a top level fighter. Whereas Garcia only has one notable opponent on his resume, Rolando has zero. Furthermore, his jilted dance partner, Fortuna, is a former world champion.
So, at the moment, these moves look very suspect. Garcia was unwilling to face Haney for a world title or Fortuna, a former world champion. Instead, it looks like he is opting to face the least proven fighter of the trio. Given the risk of Haney and Fortuna, those likely would have been bigger paydays as well. True, there have been no official announcements. So in the end, this could all just be smoke and mirrors. Yet, if it is not true, then someone needs to tell Romero that! Rolly has already taken to his Twitter account saying that the upcoming bout will be one of the biggest of 2021.
WATCH YOUR STEP!
If KingRy does wind up fighting Romero next, it truly will be a bad look. From the moment that he claimed mental illness as his rationale for abandoning the Fortuna fight, there was plenty of skepticism. No one can prove that he was or was not suffering from an episode of depression or anxiety. So if it was not legitimate, it was a clever escape route. The fun in the sun posts with his curvy ‘therapist’ certainly did not help. Now that he is supposedly looking to take on the weakest opposition, probably for the least amount of money and leanest bragging rights, is highly dubious.
Only time will tell how this curious chain of events plays out, but at the moment it looks like Garcia is more talk than walk. One thing is for certain, if KingRy does face Rolly, he better win and look very good in doing so! Otherwise his stock and credibility will take a major hit and simultaneously provide Romero the big break he has been looking for. In the end, no matter what happens, 3kingsboxing will be there to report the facts!
By: Bakari Simpson
