In the latest boxing news today, Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero fired back at Devin Haney amid apparently failed negotiations for a welterweight unification fight, two big bouts got otherwise booked with another seemingly on the way, and Sebastian Fundora declares himself the No.1 fighter in the stacked super welterweight division.
Romero Responds to Haney
Negotiations were supposed to “very likely” materialize into a booked bout, according to Haney himself in The Ring recently, with wider reports speculating a May date. The fight would bring together two of the strongest personalities in prizefighting, and the promotion could be as box office as the bout itself, with Haney rebounding with aplomb following the Ryan Garcia fiasco, and Garcia boxing with maturity and discipline to shut Garcia out in a statement win.
But speaking recently, Haney hinted Romero regards himself as a bigger draw than he is, that the money is now not right for the fight, and he will, instead, start “looking at other options.”
It didn’t take long for Romero to respond. And all he did was drop a video clip of Haney’s own comments indicating that the money was close, and worth negotiating. “Rolly said what he said on Twitter, and he basically stood on it,” Haney said in the clip.
“His manager reached out to us, with a solid offer, and it made sense for me and my team.”
3 Big Bouts Booked or Close
Though a super-fight involving Vergil Ortiz and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis never got going, wholly because of ongoing legal drama between the Texan boxer and his representative Oscar de la Hoya at Golden Boy Promotions, Boots moved on to an equally impressive challenge, as he’ll take on Xander Zayas in a WBO and WBA world title fight June 27 in New York.
“This is exactly the kind of occasion that brings the very best out of a future pound-for-pound No.1,” said Hearn of Ennis. “Boots shone so brightly against Eimantis Stanionis in Atlantic City in his first unification fight, and I expect him to light up Brooklyn on June 27.”
Todd Duboef of Top Rank, the career-long promoter for Zayas, said: “Facing the best has always been Xander’s priority, and ‘Boots’ Ennis provides Xander with the next step to prove greatness in only his second title defense.”
In another bout booking, Dmitry Bivol said “see you soon” on Instagram, effectively telling fans that he’ll compete May 30 against his IBF mandatory challenger Michael Eifert.
And thirdly, Boxing Scene reports that Jack Catterall and Shakram Giyasov is going to be one of the fights on the main card of Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven’s crossover spectacle on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza.
Fundora Declares Himself The Best
And, finally, following his destructive defeat of Keith Thurman in Las Vegas on Saturday, Sebastian Fundora declared himself the No.1 fighter at 154 pounds, and that all roads seemingly head toward him as the WBC champion.
“I think I’m the best,” he told reporters. “I think they all need to come to me.”
Considering the ruthless execution of his stoppage win over Thurman, few may disagree, however, Zayas and Ennis can make their own claim for that status when they collide this summer.
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