By: Sean Crose
Granted, it happened long ago, close to ten years ago, in fact. Still, you can see the footage online. There’s a very young Ryan Garcia sparring Rolando “Rolly” Romero and having what appears to be a challenging time of it. There’s the star to be moving about the ring in the hope of avoiding Romero’s thudding blows. Again, though, the footage is from long ago. Garcia has moved on to be an enormous and lucrative star, after all. Sure enough, there’s every reason in the world to believe Garcia will leave the ring victorious after battling Romero Friday night in Time’s Square. Still, boxing is the theater of the unexpected.
It’s worth noting that Romero will unquestionably be thinking of that long ago sparing match in the lead up to Friday’s bout. And why wouldn’t he? Although the now notorious sparing session is widely irrelevant it will still serve to remind Romero that he’s given Garcia trouble in the ring before. All the motivation in the world, however, won’t bring Romero an upset win. Only outperforming Garcia will do that…and that will be no easy task. In fact, only Gervonta Davis has been able to put a check mark in Garcia’s loss column.
Although he’s rich, good looking and online savvy, the reason Garcia is popular is because he can turn off the lights in a flash. And even if he doesn’t stop an opponent outright he can show awesome displays of power. There’s no question that the 24-1 Garcia is a knockout artist. That makes him exciting. It also makes Garcia extremely dangerous. No matter how Friday night plays out it’s hard to imagine Garcia on defense as he was when that sparring footage was taken. Indeed, this has the potential to be an exciting fight.
Like Garcia, Romero knows how to make a bout entertaining. He, too, knows what it means to end the night early. Romero also knows what it’s like to lose to Davis. With that being said, Romero arguably had a better showing against the fast, hard cracking Davis than Garcia did. Such things usually don’t mean much, as it’s styles that makes fights. Romero may be underestimated here, though, so it might be something worth keeping in mind. While the fight world eyes a rematch between Garcia and Devon Haney, Romero is no doubt planning on making the most of his opportunity Friday night in New York.
