By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA and IBF Super Bantamweight champion Danny Roman of Los Angeles, California will be taking on Ricardo Espinoza Franco (Ricardo Espinoza) of Mexico in Carson, California this Saturday, May 15th, The 10-round bout can be seen live on Showtime in America and on TSN 2 in Canada. Roman lost his titles by split decision to unbeaten Murodjon Akhmadaliev in January, 2020 in his sixth defence of the WBA crown and first defence of the IBF version and then bounced back with a 12-round unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Payano in September. Franco last fought in August when he beat Brandon Valdes by 10-round unanimous decision for the vacant WBO Youth Super Bantamweight Title.
The 31-year-old Roman won the WBA title by ninth-round stoppage over Shun Kubo in September, 2017 then defended it with unanimous decisions over Ryo Matsumoto and Moises Flores before stopping Gavin McDonnell in the 10th round in October of 2018. He then met TJ Doheny in April, 2019 to add the IBF title. Roman has a record of 28-3-1 with with 10 Kos and measures 5-feet-5-inches tall with a reach of 68 inches.
He turned pro back in 2010 and has 223 rounds of experience since then. He’s not known as a heavy hitter which is evident by his current knockout ratio of just 31.3 per cent. Roman’s other two losses came against Juan Reyes by eight-round unanimous decision in 2013 and to Takashi Okada by a four-round split decision in 2011. His draw was a four-round affair with Jensen Ramirez in his second pro fight in 2011.
Since turning pro after a 45-9 amateur career, Roman also won the vacant WBA-NABA Super Bantamweight Title in 2015 when be beat Daniel Noriega by a 10-round unanimous decision and then defended it four times. Roman’s biggest wins have been over Doheny, McDonnell, Flores, Matsumoto, Kubo, Erik Ruiz, Adam Lopez, Marlon Olea and Ramiro Robles. He hasn’t really taken on the cream of the crop when it comes to world class opposition but has handled his job well, entertained the fans and had a 19-fight winning streak going when he ran into Akhmadaliev.
Franco is just 23 years old and carries around a record of 25-3 with 21 Kos and has boxed 107 rounds since turning pro in 2015. He’s 5-feet-7-inches tall with an unlisted reach so has a two-inch edge in height on Roman. It’s evident Franco has above average power in his hands with a current knockout ratio of 75 per cent. That being said, he’s stopped one of his last three opponents but had a 10-fight KO streak going before that.
His last pro defeat came at the hands of hard-hitting John Riel Casimero in April, 2019 when he was stopped in the 12th round of a close fight for the interim WBO world Bantamweight Title. He was down in the sixth and 12th rounds but the scores at the time of the stoppage were 105-103 for Casimero, 105-103 for Franco and 104-104.
Franco was also beaten via a six-round unanimous decision to Sam Rodriguez in 2016 and was dropped in the third round and lost an eight-round split decision to Christian Nieto Ayala in 2017. Since turning pro he’s beaten Daniel Lozano by second-round TKO for the WBO Latino Bantamweight Title in 2018 and defended it against Yeison Vargas by second-round stoppage and Ricardo Nunez by 10th-round stoppage.
Prediction…
This is going to be a tough test for Roman as Espinoza Franco’s a young gun with plenty of power and proved he could handle a step up in class with his performance against Casimero. In addition, Roman doesn’t really have the power to halt him in his tracks. This should be a close and entertaining fight that I believe could swing either way. But I think Roman has the energy level, determination and skills to do just enough to have his hand raised in victory on Saturday night.
