In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on what should and shouldn’t be next for Rolando “Rolly” Romero and Ryan Garcia; the fact that Romero is somehow now a two-division titleholder; whether it matters if Tyson Fury is actually telling the truth about being retired and if there are any fights that would be appealing if Fury were to return; and the possibility of Gabriel Rosado continuing his surprisingly ongoing career by taking on Edgar Berlanga.
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.
NO REASON FOR ROLLY ROMERO-RYAN GARCIA II
Who exactly is talking about a Romero-Garcia rematch (“Oscar De La Hoya prefers Teofimo Lopez for Ryan Garcia over 'Rolly' Romero”)? Maybe more to the point, who is going to pay for it? Can’t see Turki Alalshikh paying for it. Or DAZN. Who is going to pay to watch it? In my opinion, there is zero interest in the fight.
-tokon
Owen Lewis’ response: No one that I’ve been hearing!
My first thought here is that Romero doesn’t have much reason to do it unless he receives a truly staggering payday. He won their fight back in May; though it was dull, Romero decked Garcia with his opponent’s favorite punch and showed admirable discipline to avoid getting hit with it himself.
Three months later, Romero is the WBA welterweight titleholder (!) and all we’ve heard from Garcia is that he’s beefing once again with his promoter and volatile pretty-boy predecessor, Oscar De La Hoya. With Romero’s stock at an all-time high, why would he bother running it back with somebody he already beat comfortably? Even De La Hoya has said he prefers a Teofimo Lopez fight for Garcia over a rematch, and no wonder – it’d be the more lucrative matchup.
At the same time, the rematch could easily come back around. After Devin Haney took a 12-round beating to Garcia (later ruled a no-contest thanks to Garcia’s positive test for a performance-enhancing drug) and Haney’s tepid performance against Jose Ramirez, few were talking about him. Now he’s running straight into a bout with the red-hot Brian Norman Jnr, thrusting himself back into the spotlight with audacious matchmaking.
Or take Shakur Stevenson, who was under fire for being a boring, defense-first fighter against Edwin De Los Santos – all it took to shut up those critics was a lively dissection of William Zepeda.
Say Garcia knocks out a decent welterweight and Romero loses his next fight; the rematch would be the natural matchup to make. As of now, though, I’m with you on there being no interest.
DECRYING ROLLY ROMERO BEING A TWO-DIVISION TITLEHOLDER
Rolly Romero is the worst two-division titleholder ever, with zero good, legitimate wins (not gifted). This is disgusting. I wish everybody involved all the worst.
-drablj
David Greisman’s response: Romero being a two-division titleholder is an indictment of the overall system. He’s just the latest example. And of course the WBA is the main culprit in this story.
Romero’s first WBA title shot was his TKO loss to Gervonta Davis at lightweight in May 2022. A year later, he was somehow rewarded by the sanctioning body with a second title shot, this one at junior welterweight.
That belt was vacant because the previous titleholder, Alberto Puello, had been stripped after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug. (Side note: Puello says the positive test was a substance he was prescribed to recover from a surgery that helped him and his wife conceive.) And so Ismael Barroso, ranked first by the WBA at the time, met Romero, somehow ranked fifth at 140lb, in May 2023.
Romero was behind on all three judges’ scorecards when he was awarded one of the worst referee stoppages I’ve seen in my 20+ years of covering this sport. Hence the “gifted” win you referenced. Romero subsequently lost in his first defense, taken out by Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in March 2024.
Romero’s bounce-back win over Manuel Jaimes last September was all he accomplished before facing Ryan Garcia. But the WBA, likely recognizing the money that was available, sanctioned Romero-Garcia for its secondary “regular” welterweight title even though neither man had accomplished anything of note at 147lbs. Romero was inserted in the No. 2 slot while Garcia was ranked third.
Romero’s win over Garcia is legit. The fight being for a secondary belt – one that was eventually upgraded to a primary titleholder, and therefore a “world title” by my definition? Far less legit.
Despite the recent adoption by boxing fans of the term “email champ,” the use by the sanctioning bodies of interim titles and other secondary belts isn’t new. But it feels far more widespread.
The sanctioning bodies already water down their rankings by not listing any fighter who has a title belt from one of their organizations. Or any fighter who has another organization’s secondary belt. Or any fighter who is scheduled to fight for another organization’s belt. So a fighter can be toward the top of the rankings without being among the four or six or even eight best boxers in his division.
But then when you throw in chicanery like what the WBA did for Garcia and Romero, then you wind up with undeserving situations like this. The primary WBA titleholder at the time Romero-Garcia was announced was Eimantas Stanionis – a former secondary beltholder himself, upgraded after Terence Crawford’s departure. He met the similarly upgraded Jaron “Boots” Ennis in an April 12 unification bout. Romero-Garcia took place on May 2.
All of which is to say that this is why we cannot merely describe a fighter as accomplished just because they won a world title. It’s far more important to give the proper context: Who did they beat to win the belt? And whom did they subsequently defend it against?
I DON’T CARE IF TYSON FURY IS LYING ABOUT BEING RETIRED
Do I believe anything Tyson Fury says (“Tyson Fury says he will ‘never’ return to boxing: ‘I’m too old and grey’”)? No. Do I actually care whether he fights again? Maybe if he fights Anthony Joshua. I certainly don't need to see Oleksandr Usyk beat him again.
-famicommander
Owen Lewis’ response: I’m certainly not denying that Usyk would be a favorite in a third Fury fight, but as I wrote on Monday, it surprises me how repellent boxing fans seem to find the idea of them running it back one more time. Usyk won the first fight by split decision, 114-113 on the decisive card – it gets no closer than that.
Though the second fight was more straightforward, 116-112 scores across the board, the feeling at the time was that those tallies didn’t quite do justice to Fury’s effort. Regardless, few would dispute, even now, that those two fights were close, tense and high-quality. Far worse rivalries than this have resulted in a trilogy.
I understand that Joseph Parker deserves his shot (I want Usyk to fight him next), but I reject the notion that Usyk-Fury III is some disastrous outcome that must be avoided for the sake of all our sanities. Fury-Chisora III was that fight. Usyk-Fury III would probably be another fun 12 rounds!
Fury-Joshua might well be fun, too (though that’s less of a safe bet). I feel bad for Joshua, who I imagine wants this fight, and for fans of either man who have had this fight dangled over their head for damn close to a decade at this point, only to be denied it repeatedly. I’ve really enjoyed Usyk’s fights with both of them, so I can live with it if Fury-Joshua never happens. The once-towering stakes — who is the best heavyweight of the generation — have evaporated.
On the veracity of any given Fury statement, I completely agree. Here’s my Tyson Fury playbook: When he’s active, enjoy his fights and analyze his press conferences to see if he contradicts himself or sticks to a consistent narrative. When he’s inactive, ignore him until his promises become reality. Everybody wins.
EDGAR BERLANGA SHOULD BE GABE ROSADO’S FINAL PAYDAY
Maybe I’ve been missing it, but I think Gabe Rosado is a fan favorite (“Gabriel Rosado scores first-round KO and calls out Edgar Berlanga”). I mean, let’s keep it real: He’s a journeyman at this point, but that doesn’t mean people don’t like him. Personally, I’d like to see him hang ’em up. He’s 39 and not going anywhere – he never really was. But a Berlanga payday? I say, why not?
-CubanGuyNYC
Lucas Ketelle’s response: Rosado is a fan-favorite. I believe it stems from the Gennadiy Golovkin fight. When Golovkin was avoided, Rosado moved up to middleweight and fought him. Even though he was bloody at the end of it, and the fight was stopped, it formed a connection with the fans. Rosado reminds me of Micky Ward, a blue-collar fighter who came to fight no matter what his record said.
The intrigue is there for the Rosado-Berlanga. An old veteran, Rosado, who took a hard road to his place in the sport, against Berlanga, a modern fighter who some could argue didn’t have it as hard as Rosado. The fight makes sense for both and, on paper, is competitive. I, like you, say “Why not?”
Whether Rosado should still fight is based on the level of his opponent, and the end goal. I am fine with him fighting Berlanga as he has some questions to answer about his career, and a fight with Rosado might provide clarity.
Rosado has done what great fighters do and reinvented himself over the past decade. From 2014-2015, Rosado fought five times, not winning once. Despite lacking a marquee win until knocking out Bektemir Melikuziev, Rosado has always proved to be a tough night at the office for anyone and a suitable main event or co-feature level fighter.
The big fear I have is the end goal. If Rosado were to win, would he keep going at nearly 40 years old? That would be troubling, as despite proving to be a quality veteran, he has taken a lot of damage throughout his career. I am fine with the fight with Berlanga, but I hope to see Rosado, who has various options such as broadcasting, podcasting and possibly coaching, to view it as a marquee fight at the end of his career rather than a gateway back to a title.
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.
