“Pacquiao!” declared Rolando Romero earlier this month when a reporter asked who a big opponent for him would be. Considering that the eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao, is set to fight WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on July 19, returning after a four-year hiatus at 46, the reporter asked if Romero would want to fight the Filipino if he wins that bout. “Don’t matter if he [Pacquiao] beats Barrios or not. Still Rolly-Pacquiao,” the 29-year-old responded, openly challenging the Hall of Famer.
Coming off a victory over Ryan Garcia earlier this month has increased Romero’s standing in the boxing community. However, it seems PacMan may not even know who the WBA Regular welterweight champion is. In a separate interview with Fight Hype, a day after Romero’s callout, the boxing outlet asked if the 62-8 boxer would be interested in such a matchup. “Who?” Pacquiao responded. When the reporters tried telling him, the boxing legend just appeared uninterested and started throwing punches into the air, carrying on with his workout. Now, it sure hasn’t hurt Rolly’s feelings, and the 17-2 boxer still is very much interested in that matchup as he recently conveyed during an Instagram live session.
The Las Vegas native was eating in a restaurant all by himself when he decided to go live to have some fun with his followers. They would ask him questions, and he would respond to them while shoving food in his mouth. Early on, he mentioned, “There’s a lot of options for me, man…I’m going to fight the winner of Pacquiao-Barrios.“
That came because he realized the step up after winning against Garcia. From his perspective, he can challenge anybody at this point. So, is he aiming for the undisputed welterweight status? Nope. “I’m not going to be put in undisputed. I don’t want to be undisputed. I want Pacquiao next,” Romero said, doubling down on the first challenge he threw Manny Pacquiao’s way.
But what about the other name he throwing around last week?
After Manny Pacquiao, Romero calls out another unexpected contender
For those who may not know, after his win over Ryan Garcia, Rolando Romero decided to call out David Benavidez, of all people. Yup, he called out the WBC light heavyweight champion during an interview with Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas. “I want to fight Benavidez,” said Romero. Villegas assumed he was joking. Hence, he asked the 29-year-old again while trying to control his laughter: ‘Which Benavidez-Jose or David?’
And Rolly, being himself, responded playfully, “Eah, bro. F***ing Mexican Monster, man. They call me the Boogeyman over here…I mean, I’m being serious.” Then he added, “I’ll fight him at 168…I want to fight the Mexican Monster.” So, was Romero bluffing?
Repeating his previous unexpected yet strange callout to David Benavidez, Romero, while on the Instagram live, explained where the matchup stands now. “David Benavidez won’t fight me,” said Rolly Romero.
“That’s the only other fight—either Manny Pacquiao or David Benavidez. There’s no in-between. Yeah, me and Pac… me and David Benavidez. I don’t want no other fight right now,” the incomplete champion explained. But, since it is crystal clear that Pacquiao is too busy to notice, that sort of fight won’t be a fueled showdown. This is why Benavidez remains the next-best option, in case Romero is actually serious about it. But then, there is a weight gap of 28 pounds between the two. So, that makes it an impossible fight as well.
So, if Manny Pacquiao doesn’t agree to fight Rolando Romero, which he most likely wouldn’t, the latter already has Benavidez on his dartboard next.
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