Late replacement Anthony Yigit is aiming to shake up the division!
When Interim WBA World lightweight champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero (13-0, 11 KO’s) lost his first opponent, Austin Dulay, he was enraged. Personally Romero was not going for the injury story and felt that Dulay was trying to dodge a bullet. Rolly also was unsure if he was going to be able to find a suitable replacement. Luckily for him it did not take long for Dulay to be replaced with Anthony “Can You Dig It” Yigit (24-1-1, 8 KO’s).
True, there are not that many Americans who will be familiar with Yigit. At the same time though, Dulay was far from a household name. Aside from the Swedish fighter’s relative obscurity in the states, he is a serviceable opposition. The former Olympian only has one loss to his record. Dig It earned his way into the junior welterweight World Boxing Super Series along with fighters such as Ivan Baranchyk, Regis Prograis and Josh Taylor.
Yigit was eliminated in the first round by Ivan Baranchyk by way of a seventh round stoppage initiated by the doctor. During the fight, the Swede landed some good shots but ultimately he got chopped up like sleepy teens on Elm Street. Baranchyk hammered Dig It to the head and body until his eye failed. By the conclusion of the seventh round, the abuse caused his left eye to swell like a bullfrog’s neck. The nauseating ailment is what ultimately forced the doctor’s hands. To his credit though, Yigit showed great heart and grit and never once looked for a way out of the brutalization.
SHOOTING FOR GLORY
When Dig It, currently ranked #14 lightweight (WBA), steps in the ring against Romero, he will have a couple handicaps right out the gate. For one, he has not fought in two years and is likely to have a notable amount of ring rust. Of course this is not an absolute fact, yet the smart money says it’ll take a few rounds to get re-acclimated.
Also, this is the first time in his professional career that he’s fought below super lightweight. In fact, Yigit debuted as a welterweight and later moved down to 140. Technically, if the Swede made weight without issue, he could be the bigger and presumably stronger man. On the other hand, Yigit might come in drained and ripe for the picking. Furthermore his measly amount of knockouts does not suggest that he has overwhelming power.
Lastly, his dustup with Romero will only be his second fight in the states. The first was the nightmarish ordeal with Baranchyk. So, ideally Romero would like to piggy-back some of that traumatic event and orchestrate a whole new one. In the end though, there is no telling what will happen until the two combatants get in the ring. Still, no matter what the outcome, 3kingsboxing will be there to report the story.
By: Bakari Simpson
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