Ryan Garcia and Rolando Romero have spent eight years fielding questions about a grainy Las Vegas sparring clip; on 2 May in Times Square they finally trade blows that count. Since that upload Romero has collected a WBA title at 140 lbs and lost it via eighth-round knockout to Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in January, while Garcia has become one of boxing’s biggest box-office draws, suffered a seventh-round body-shot defeat to Gervonta Davis in 2023, upset Devin Haney last April only to see the result overturned after positive ostarine tests, and served a one-year suspension. Both return as welterweights and each promising the other won’t survive the punch that lands first.
Watch Garcia vs. Romero face-off: Watch
Their face-off with DAZN’s Chris Mannix was surprisingly civil. Garcia, lucid after admitting the mental-health spiral that accompanied his drug ban, joked that Romero’s sparring video “plays like Friends, it won’t stop,” while Romero conceded even he is tired of watching it. Garcia believes he has grown into the bigger man and questions Romero’s chin, saying the Cruz knockout left him “looking for Easter eggs in the ring.” Romero counters that Garcia “quit” versus Davis and predicts a repeat: “Ryan flatlined on the canvas or taking a knee.”
Beyond the barbs lies genuine intrigue: Garcia’s left hook remains one of boxing’s fastest finishers, Romero’s awkward power once made Davis admit the punches felt like bricks, and both need a clean victory to re-enter a lightweight-welterweight landscape suddenly ruled by Shakur Stevenson and Jaron Ennis.
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Image Credit: Golden Boy Promotions