By Ian S Palmer
Rolando Romero of Las Vegas, Nevada returns to the ring this Saturday, May 13th a year after being stopped by unbeaten WBA Lightweight Champion Gervonta Davis in the sixth round last May. His opponent at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas will be southpaw Ismael Barroso of Venezuela with the 12-round junior welterweight clash being shown live on Showtime in America and for vacant the WBA World Title. Barroso was last in the ring in August when he stopped Fernando David Saucedo in the fourth round.
Romero is 27 years old and has just 57 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 t mark of 14-1 with 12 Ko’s with his only defeat coming at the hands of Davis last year. He possesses plenty of power in his punches with a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent and has gone the distance just twice.
He beat Jackson Marinez by unanimous decision in August 2020 for the WBA interim lightweight title and the only other opponent he went the distance with was Javier Martinez, who went six rounds back in August, 2018 with Romero earning a unanimous decision. Romero has beaten some other good boxers along the way though such as Anthony Yigit and Avery Sparrow and was doing well against Davis until he got caught. Romero stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch and will be moving up to the 140 lb junior welterweight division for the first time.
Barroso is a 40-year-old veteran who climbs through the ropes with a record of 24-3-2 with 22 Ko’s. He fights out of Miami, Florida and is a power puncher who holds a current knockout ratio of 76 per cent. He’s boxed just 116 rounds since turning pro in 2005 as 22 of his 24 wins and two of his three defeats have come by way of stoppage. He’s just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach, so has an inch edge in reach and half-an-inch in height over Romero.
Since turning pro he’s won the vacant WBA Fedebol, WBA Interim Lightweight Titles as well as the and WBA Gold Super Lightweight Titles. He also fought for the WBA Lightweight Crown in 2016 but was stopped by Anthony Crolla in the seventh round in England. His other defeats came at the hands of Isa Chaniev by 12-round unanimous decision in May, 2018 and by ninth-round stoppage by Batyr Akhemdov in his next contest three months later. Since then, he’s won four fights in a row.
Barroso drew his pro debut against Carlos Cardenas over four rounds and also drew his sixth pro fight when he went four even rounds with Wilson Silva in 2010. Barroso didn’t fight again for almost three years after making his debut. His biggest wins have been over Kevin Mitchell, Wiston Campos, Issouf Kinda, Fidel Maldonado Jr and Yves Ulysse Jr.
Prediction…
Romero and Barroso both carry plenty of power and as Romero found out in his last fight against Gervonta Davis that things can change with one punch. Still, Barroso is 40 years old and as long as Romero’s not gun shy after being stopped, he should be able to bounce back with a win here.
