Immediately following his stoppage win over Avery Sparrow on Showtime, lightweight Rolando Romero took some time to chat with reporters about his performance and what he has planned for his future. Check out some excerpts from the post-fight presser below...
Romero on facing late substitute Avery Sparrow:
“Well he had about a month to prepare because he was my replacement just in case, with COVID stuff, so they’re having all of us have replacements, you know. But I mean, I didn’t know he was gonna be my replacement. I didn’t even know I was gonna have a replacement. I’m very disappointed that I wanted to fight Pauldo but things happen and at least I had another opponent on the backup to be able to fight tonight for you guys.”
On how he was grade his performance:
“I don’t know, honestly. I don’t really have a rating until I see the actual fight. But I fought a dirty fighter, he hit me with a dozen if not more low blows, on the back of the head, back of the back, trying to wrestle, trying to do all sorts of things. But it is what it is. I got the victory, I dropped him with that hook in the opening round, and I thought it was gonna be over right there but he’s slick, he knows how to survive.”
On how his last performance against Marinez prepared him to perform in this outing:
“It didn’t do anything for me. The person that fought Marinez wasn’t me. It wasn’t me; I had a bad camp, I didn’t do the things I was supposed to do, and I messed up in a big part of it and he fought scared and he made it very difficult, and he’s really good at surviving. Marinez, he was supposed to take the fight again, he was supposed to rematch me, he decided not to. He decided to go get scared...he decided to go fight Commey instead. Please don’t talk about Marinez, he’s a waste of my time.”
On if he takes any satisfaction for this performance after being heavily criticized after fighting Marinez:
“Well boxing fans are the most bipolar people I’ve ever seen in my life. Like there’s so many fighters that have gone through the things I’ve gone through — Floyd, Teofimo, Benavidez — there’s a lot...Boxing is a very toxic sport and I just want the best, I just see the best for the future. I hope I just make sure I keep entertaining you guys because at the end of it that’s the only thing that matters...”
On where he wants to go from here:
“I want the WBC belt. That’s what I want...Devin Haney.”