By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBA Super Lightweight Champion Gervonta Davis of Baltimore, Maryland will be defending his title for the second time when he meets undefeated Rolando Romero of Las Vegas Nevada this Saturday, May 28th. The 12-rounder will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and can be seen live in America on Showtime Pay Per View. Davis, the former WBA Lightweight and WBA and IBF Super Featherweight Champion won his latest belt last June when he stopped Mario Barrios in the 11th round. He then defended it in December with a unanimous decision over Isaac Cruz. Romero last boxed in July when he stopped Anthony Yigit in the seventh round for the WBA interim title.
The 27-year-old ‘Tank’ Davis was a 2012 National Golden Gloves Champion as an amateur and enters the fight with a perfect mark of 26-0 with 24 big Kos. He’s fought 108 rounds since turning pro back in 2013 due to his tremendous punching power and his knockouts over Leo Santa Cruz, Ricardo Nunez, Jesus Cuellar, Hugo Ruiz, Jose Pedraza and Liam Walsh were exceptional. The southpaw has the talent and power to be a long-reigning champion.
Davis currently has a knockout ratio of 92.3 per cent with the only two opponents to take him the distance as a pro being German Meraz when the pair went six rounds back in 2014 and Isaac Cruz in his last outing. However, Davis still managed to drop Meraz in both the third and fifth rounds. Davis stopped Jose Pedraza in the seventh round for the IBF Super Featherweight Title in January, 2017 and then defended it four months later in England when he stopped Liam Walsh in the third round.
Davis’ first title reign came to an end in August, 2017 against Francesco Fonseca though when he failed to make weight. However, he still fought and stopped Fonseca in the eighth round. He then won the WBA version against Jesus Cuellar in April 2018 and defended it against Hugo Ruiz and Ricardo Nunez. He won the vacant WBA Lightweight Belt in December, 2019 when he stopped Yuriorkis Gamboa in the 12th round and defended it against Leo Santa Cruz a year later with a sixth-round stoppage before moving up in weight to fight Barrios. Davis stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall and has a reach of 67.5 inches.
Romero is 26 years old and has just 51 rounds under his belt since making his pro debut in 2016 following his amateur career after starting boxing at the age of 17. He climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 14-0 with 12 Ko’s so almost rivals Davis in the power department with a current knockout ratio of 85.7 per cent. However, he hasn’t fought the same level of opposition that Davis has and will definitely be taking a step up in class this weekend.
Romero has beaten some good boxers along the way though such as Yigit, Avery Sparrow and Jackson Marinez. He beat Marinez by unanimous decision in August 2020 for the WBA interim lightweight title. The only other opponent to go the distance with Romero was Javier Martinez, who went six rounds back in August, 2018. Romero is 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch reach which gives him a 2.5-inch height advantage over Davis and a minimal half-inch edge in reach.
Prediction…
Davis and Romero don’t appear to like each other very much and this is being billed as a grudge match with plenty of trash talk. It pits power against power and Romero isn’t averse to bending the rules if that’s what it takes to leave the ring with his hand raised. His determination and style could cause a few problems for Davis early on especially considering he’s naturally bigger and has power. Romero doesn’t have much in the way of experience and will be looking to stop Davis. He has the power to do it but it’s not likely going to happen even if Davis is slightly overrated. It’s going to be an interesting fight but one I’m expecting Davis to win.
