Leave it to former lightweight world title challenger Rolando “Rolly” Romero to rain on a fellow contender’s parade.
The always vociferous 27-year-old power puncher was on hand this Saturday for the Showtime-televised duel of unbeaten lightweight contenders, Frank Martin and Michel Rivera, at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
When asked about Martin, Rivera, and the fight in general, Romero’s take was characteristically cynical and provocative.
“Michel Rivera is weight drained,” Romero, who was stopped in six rounds by Gervonta Davis this past May, told FightHype.com. “He can’t be at that weight no more. You could tell from the first round.
“The mother f***er was breathing hard from the first round. He just looks like that right now. He’s a big dude. He was fighting at 144, 148. He’s a big dude.”
“He looked good,” said Rolly, when asked about Martin. “If he had power, he would have stopped Michel. Michel is already chinny.
“He’s snappy, but his power isn’t like…If he had power, he would have stopped Michel.
“At the end of it, he [Martin] didn’t even sound confident. He’s like, ‘Anyone can get it.’ Ah. Bro, you freeze. Like with me, when I call someone out, ‘I want this mother f***ker. I want this mother f***ker.’ He [Martin] doesn’t truly want it with those fighters.
“I don’t really care too much about him. I like him as a person. He doesn’t really have a personality. But he doesn’t get in the way of anything.”
Romero would insist that Martin, as a possible opponent, doesn’t interest him in the least because he’s done with the lightweight division.
“I’m not a lightweight no more,” Romero asserted. He’d also hint that him being called out after the Martin fight only happened because he’s moving out of the 135 lb. class. “They’re trying to say this s**t because I’m moving up.”
When asked about a possible clash with three-belt welterweight champ Errol Spence, who promotes Martin and was sitting ringside, close to Romero, Rolly, as usual, was dismissive.
“What am I going to say to him? His eyes look like a fish,” Romero commented. “If a fight is going to happen, it’s going to happen.”
In contrast to Romero’s boisterous, braggadocio ways, Frank Martin was humble and even-handed following the biggest win of his career thus far.
“I just believe in myself,” Martin said in his post-fight interview. “I believe in myself and I believe in my team. We know what we doing when we in the gym. We working consistently outside the gym. I’m doing my homework. We believe in it. We just believe that we are ready for any of the top fighters. Give them to us. Let us get them. We ready to eat.”
When asked to call out future opponents in the stacked lightweight division, Martin was grounded, but confident.
“We want them all. We can get Gervonta Davis, we can get Devin Haney, we can get any of those top guys, we are ready. I see Rolly in here. Rolly my guy, we can get it in too, let’s make it happen.”
Well, Rolly-Martin is probably NOT going to happen. If Romero is moving up in weight while Martin is just finding his place at 135, the timing is clearly not right for a bout between the two. And, honestly, right now, there’s not all that much of a demand for one– especially considering the multitude of big fights already to be had in the 135-140 lb. weight range.
But this little mash-up of personalities and temperaments from Saturday night does help showcase both fighters for future endeavors. Big things and big fights should await both.
