By: Sean Crose
He appears fast in the ring, lightning fast. The speed of the man’s punches are absolutely blinding. There’s power to be found as well especially in the man’s shots to the body. Rolly Romero, at least in the gym, looks ready to take on the world, there’s no two ways about it. Given the man is not favored to win when he faces Teofimo Lopez Saturday night in Las Vegas he’s going to have to be. There’s a reason for that of course, that reason being Lopez is an excellent fighter himself. While this fight wouldn’t have qualified as a pay-per-view main event not so long ago, it certainly qualifies to be a major headline event this weekend.
Boxing isn’t the sport it used to be. Not by a long shot. 20 years ago the boxing game was about narrative, about fighters striving to reach the top or defending their perch at the top. Now boxing is all about who wins contract negotiations rather than what transpires in the ring. Many boxers don’t seem particularly interested in fighting these days. No wonder the whole sport is heading overseas. Boxing in America seems to be at a standstill. I used to call boxing followers who prefer negotiations to the fights New Breed fans. Now however they seem to be the mainstream fans of the sport – at least in the United states.
Yet all isn’t as bad as it may seem. Rolly Romero, he of the lightning fast hands, and Teofimo Lopez, his opponent this weekend, are doing right by the sport simply by meeting in the ring. For this is not going to be an easy fight for either man to emerge from victorious. There’s a lot of stake here including reputations and careers. By facing off against one another for a WBA welterweight strap, Romero and Lopez are doing things right. It sounds hokey, but they’re doing it the old-fashioned way and that’s a good thing.
What’s particularly notable about Saturday’s fight is the winner will go from having a good career to having a stellar career. Romero upset Ryan Garcia. Lopez upset Vasyl Lomachenko. The victorious party on Saturday night will be in the great fighters conversation. Sound ridiculous? In this era of endless negotiations fighters that actually step into the ring and win big fights repeatedly are worthy of note. Both Romero and Lopez have lost notable fights, but they’ve won notable fights as well. That’s worth considering.
And so, with the internet buzzing with news that once again the long awaited Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight might not happen, Romero will actually be squaring off in the ring this weekend in Vegas. With the current state of things, that’s a positive development. At least some fighters are willing to go out there and throw down. Again these aren’t the greatest fighters in the game right now, but they’re high level fighters who are well worth seeing in action on a Saturday night. Although the two men have been friends, boxers rarely are friends when the opening bell rings.
“I care less about money,” ESPN quotes Romero as saying. “I’m here for the sport of boxing. I’m here to grow the sport of boxing.” Romero can be accused of being full of it of course but how many other fighters of note sit large portions of their lives out instead of focusing on the fight game?
“The real reason boxing is dying,” Romero continued (via ESPN), “is overpaying these dudes for fights that they shouldn’t be getting paid this much for.” Although fighters can’t be blamed for trying to get the most money possible, some can indeed be blamed for not getting in the ring more often. It’s something more people in the industry should agree upon.
