Rolando “Rolly’’ Romero is a world champion. While controversial, he recorded a ninth-round TKO against Ismael Barroso on Saturday night at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Romero(15-1, 13 KOs) captures the vacant WBA 140-pound belt with the win.
At the time of the stoppage, Romero, who was dropped by Barroso(24-4-2, 22 KOs) in the third round, was trailing on all three judges’ scorecards(78-73, 77-74, 76-75).
Romero dropped Barroso in the ninth round, which appeared to be a push, but referee Tony Weeks ruled it a knockdown. Then, the Las Vegas native had the 40-year-old in the corner, but most of Romero’s punches missed, and inexplicably, Weeks stopped the fight at 2:41 of the ninth round.
“I’ll be honest, he’s a warrior, and he should have been allowed to continue,” Romero said after the fight. “He wanted to keep going, and I wanted him to keep going as well.”
Barroso, who outlanded Romeo 57-40, and threw 297 punches to 230 for Romero, was frustrated by the stoppage.
“I think it was an injustice to stop the fight,” said Barroso, a late replacement after Alberto Puello, who previously held the WBA 140-pound title, had been stripped of his title because of a failed VADA test. “I was landing the better shots. It was a push on the first knockdown. It wasn’t a big blow or anything. The referee just stopped the fight, and he didn’t say anything. You can see it clearly. I’m the one who’s hitting him. There was nothing clear that he hit me with. I don’t understand why they stopped the fight.”
This was Romero’s first fight since his TKO loss to Gervonta Davis last May, but in his debut at 140 pounds, he became the second Las Vegas native to win a title, and after the win, he made it clear what he wanted next.
“There’s only two fights I want,” he said. “There’s the rematch with Tank Davis. But I think there’s a much bigger option. I want to go after Ryan Garcia. We can do it on Showtime PPV.”
Photo; Esther Lin/SHOWTIME
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