Régis Prograis is not ruling out the possibility that former WBA welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero will beat Ryan Garcia in their fight in New York’s Times Square next May.
Workout Flashback
Former two-time 140-pound champion Prograis believes that with Rolly (16-2, 13 KOs) so wild with his punches and difficult to time, he could catch Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) with something thing. Regis points to a training session between Garcia and Rolando from 2018 to support his case for Rolly’s victory.
Sparring is nothing like real fighting, especially when it happened seven years ago, when Garcia was skinny and still a teenager. Rolly has looked like a below average fighter throughout his career and should arguably have two more losses on his resume following his fights against Ismael Barroso and Jackson Marinez, which would bring his true record to 14-4.
“Rolly and Ryan, I saw the footage of the fight. I think it’s actually not a predictable fight, because they’re both very wild and they can both land blows,” Régis Prograis told MillCity Boxingdiscussing the May 2 fight between Ryan Garcia and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in New York’s Times Square.
“Ryan can land big shots, and Rolly can land big shots. I would say Ryan, but I don’t know if you saw the fight. Rolly was beating Ryan in the gym. Rolly is wild. and sometimes it’s hard to fight against someone who is that wild.
“So I’d go with Ryan, but I don’t count Rolly out until I hit him with something. I prefer Ryan because he has more experience in big fights and stuff like that. I prefer him because he’s a bigger star. He has this hook, but at the same time, Rolly is wild and could catch him with something. So, I would just favor Ryan, but it will definitely be an interesting fight,” Prograis said.
Regis gives Rolly Romero way too much credit for a workout that took place seven years ago in 2018. Ryan was 19 at the time and Rolly was 22. Kingry is now 26 and much taller than he wasn’t during this training session. The way Rolly pushed Garcia around during that fight would get him knocked out today because he would get nailed by one of his left hooks.
Rolly would likely lose to Ryan’s former opponents Oscar Duarte, Devin Haney and Javier Fortuna. Garcia would be better off fighting Duarte than using the recently knocked out Romero as an opponent because there is no gain in fighting him now and there never has been. It is surprising that Turki Al-Sheikh did not veto this choice of opponent. If it had been me, I’d say, “No, Rolly is not fit to compete in the main event of the Times Square card.” He’s not even worthy of being on the undercard.
Haney inevitable revenge
“Yes, I do,” Prograis said when asked if he favors Garcia in a rematch with Devin Haney. “If Devin can beat Ryan, he can show his greatness. If you can beat someone who beat you like that (that’s special). When you take all the supplements he (Ryan) was taking, and we take them off (revenge may be different).
It stands to reason that Garcia will beat Devin Haney in the rematch. For fans who cling to the belief that the only reason Ryan won was because he tested positive for Ostarine, they are kidding themselves. He won because he was the better fighter, and Haney can’t take a hard hit.
Devin’s constant clinch habitat that he developed from his fight against Jorge Linares came back to bite him in the back in this fight, as it put him directly in the line of fire for short left hooks by Ryan. Haney should have seen it when he watched the tape. of Garcia in training camp and made sure he didn’t try to hold out.
Unfortunately, Devin’s excessive possession has become too ingrained for him to stop using it. If you took that away from Haney, it would break him, leaving him as a fractured and vulnerable fighter, fodder for almost any player from 135 to 147. His whole game is built around the jab and hold-up now.
“We don’t know if it was true or not, but shit still happened (Garcia testing positive for Ostarine),” Regis said. “We can tell what was in his system, but that fight still happened. He still dropped him, hurt him and dropped him three times. If he (Haney) can come out and win, that would really show his greatness.
Regis on Haney vs. Ramirez
“It’s possible (Kingry knocking out Haney in a rematch), but we got to see what Devin does. We have to see what he does with (Jose) Ramirez first. In boxing, anything is possible,” Prograis said.
Regis is right that fans need to see if Haney will win his fight against former WBA and WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) on May 2 because he is likely to lose to him. Turki said nothing about Haney needing to win his fight against Ramirez to get the rematch against Kingry in October. So it’s likely it won’t matter if Haney is beaten by Ramirez. It’s a throwaway fight.
