Davis vs Romero Preview
A loaded night of boxing is going down May 28th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The main event will be a showdown for the WBA “regular” lightweight title between undefeated champion Gervonta Davis and undefeated challenger Rolando Romero.
Davis is coming off a unanimous decision victory in December over Isaac Cruz to retain the title. The 27-year-old has held a title in three weight classes and besides the WBA regular lightweight title, he also held the WBA super lightweight title between June 2021 and December 2021, the IBF super featherweight title in 2017, and the WBA super featherweight title between 2018 and 2021.
The man known as “Tank” has long been referred to as a Floyd Mayweather protégé, but the champion has stated the fight on Saturday will be his last under Mayweather promotions. In response to being asked if he was leaving the promotions he said “Yes sir!” As far as the decision-making process, Davis said “It’s about just becoming that man, handling your own responsibility, your own priorities. “So I feel as though it’s my career, so I feel as though I need to be the one to control my career. And it’s time,” said Tank.
Davis is 26-0 with 24 KO but had questions come up following his last fight after allowing Isaac Cruz to go the distance. Does he feel pressure to get a knockout on Saturday? “Nah [there is no pressure to get knockout],” Davis said. “The thing with Cruz I knew I wasn’t, you know, actually gonna get the knockout. I knew it was gonna be a little tough. First of all, he was shorter than me. I’ve only fought like two shorter dudes than me in my career.”
The champion went on to say, “I wasn’t doing a lot of things [that I used to be doing] to get me at this point. I’m back on that. I’m ready to put on a great performance," Davis said.
Davis has key victories in his career over Mario Barrios, Leo Santa Cruz, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Hugo Ruiz, Jesus Cuellar and Jose Pedraza. A win on Saturday will hold Davis’ spot on the pound for pound list firm and the question then would be who is next? A couple of names being thrown around for a potential fight with the champion have been Devin Haney, George Kambosos Jr, Ryan Garcia and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Romero held the interim WBA lightweight title from 2020 to August 2021. He is 14-0 with 12 KO and is coming off a seventh round TKO of Anthony Yigit last July. The 26-year-old is confident heading into the fight with Davis and was inspired by the champions last performance against Cruz. “That fight showed he’s afraid of punchers,” Romero said, referring to the Davis-Cruz fight. “He’s afraid someone will take his s— and beat the s— out of him. … He’s going to get knocked out quick.
“If he makes it out of the first round, he’ll be blessed.”
Romero is coming into the fight very much off the radar and when you compare his experience to Davis’, they do not seem like they would be in the same league. Romero had only a reported 35 amateur fights before going pro whereas Davis had over 200 and at 27 years old, has a trusty veteran’s type of experience.
However, the challenger believes he is going to shock the world. “Bivol-Alvarez just shows that anything can happen in boxing,” he said. “They thought Canelo would win. And some people think this little m—–f—– (Davis) is going to beat me. … I’m obviously the bigger puncher.
“It’s going to be beneficial to the sport of boxing when I win.”
A Romero win on Saturday would certainly shock the world and shake things up at lightweight, but every Davis opponent has felt like he was going to be the guy. Romero is going to have to have something different in his gameplan to shake things up, but that is easier said than done.
Co-Main Event
The co-main event of the evening will be another title fight for the WBA “regular” middleweight title between champion Erislandy Lara and challenger Gary O’ Sullivan.
Lara won the vacant title a year ago in his last fight with a first round KO of Thomas LaManna. Previously he held various versions (both Regular and Super) of the WBA light middleweight title between 2014 and 2021, and the IBO light middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2021. Lara is 28-3-3 with 16 KO. His three losses were close decisions to Jarrett Hurd, Canelo Alvarez and Paul Williams.
The 39-year-old has been questioned about the long layoff since his last fight, but he has not let it phase him. “No one wanted to fight me,” Lara said. “So, I had to keep my body in shape during my time out of the ring. I’m still a major threat to everyone in the division. That’s the reason for the long layoff.”
“I’m expecting a tough fight because Gary O’Sullivan is a very tough fighter,” said lara. “At this point in my career, it’s hard getting anyone to fight me, especially the young up and coming guys. So, I give him a lot of credit for stepping in the ring with me.”
Lara is looking for a spectacular win. “I’m going to try to get him out of there, but it won’t be easy. In addition, I think he’ll have a lot of fans in attendance so he’ll have that advantage.”
“He might not be the most skilled guy with his footwork and all, but he can take a punch and he always comes to fight,” said Lara. “This will not be an easy fight by any means.
“O’Sullivan is one of those guys who will leave everything in the ring and those guys are dangerous.”
The champion has a goal after this fight with O’Sullivan on Saturday. “I feel stronger at middleweight and my power seems to be more effective in this weight class,” he said. “I want to solidify myself as a Hall of Fame fighter before I end my career – that is the ultimate goal.”
The Cuban fighter has key victories in his career over Yuri Foreman, Vanes Martirosyan, Jan Zaveck, Ishe Smith and Austin Trout. A win and defense of his title on Saturday would set Lara up nicely with a unification fight at middleweight.
Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan is coming off a unanimous decision victory in a six round fight over Nodar Robakidze last May. The Irishman is 31-4 with 21 KO and all four losses came to current or future world champions. The 37-year-old will be fighting for his first major title on Saturday and feels the timing is as good as it can get. “I think it would have been an absolute nightmare ten years ago, to be honest, for me in there with him, or for anybody with him, really,” said O’Sullivan.
“Spike” continued “He's on the decline, I think,” adds O’Sullivan. “But he's still a great fighter and a top challenge for anybody. He arguably may have won all those fights he lost, and he's a great fighter, but it's better to get him now than ten years ago, for sure.”
It was a surprise to many pundits that O’Sullivan was granted the fight against Lara given his inactivity and the fact that he could only outpoint a fighter with 35 losses in his last fight. He believes he is going to make the most of the moment.
“I'm not gonna say I deserved it before,” he said. “Maybe I did. A lot of people think I probably did. But I never did, unfortunately. But it's fine, I'm cool with that - I've got an opportunity now and regardless of the result, really, I think it's something my great grandchildren will speak about. It's a magnificent occasion for me and I'm going in to win. If I did, it would mean the world to me. I've never turned down a fight, I've fought everybody, and I've never shied away from a tough fight. I stumbled at the final hurdle at times, but hopefully not this time.”
