WBA Interim 135lbs champion Rolando Romero hammered an overweight and out-of-sorts Anthony Yigit to a seventh-round defeat at the AT&T Center in San Antonio on Saturday then immediately set his sights on a clash with big-punching stablemate Gervonta Davis.
The brash Romero simply walked through the Swedish southpaw who missed the weight by over five pounds on Friday and therefore was unable to win the belt. Yigit (24-2-1, 8 KOs) never looked close to prevailing as the sharp Romero dropped him three times before the fight’s conclusion in the seventh.
Afterwards, Las Vegas’ Romero beat the drum for a fight with fellow Mayweather Promotions fighter Davis who holds the WBA Regular belt at 135lbs, but recently moved up in weight to gun down 140lbs title holder Mario Barrios.
““I want Gervonta Davis at 140. I’m ready for it,” said Romero (14-0, 12 KOs). “I’ll stop him. I’m gonna knock him out. I know it is [possible to make that fight]. I know what he can do. But I know what I can do. I’m a lot stronger.”
Romero dominated the lacklustre Swede who was a late replacement for Nashville’s Austin Dulay, but ultimately only made up the numbers. In the third, a stray elbow opened a cut under Yigit’s left eye as the fight became a rough and ready encounter, marred by wrestling and holding.
The Las Vegan was chief culprit, throwing Yigit to the deck in the fifth to draw a warning from referee Rafael Ramos. That became a point deduction soon afterwards as Romero hit Yigit on the break. But Romero underlined his superiority by decking Yigit with a hard right hand just before the bell. Yigit beat the count and had the one-minute interval to regain his bearings.
The visitor survived the sixth but not the seventh. When a surging Romero dropped him with a stiff right-hand counter, the end seemed inevitable. After the champion reeled off a volley of blows and floored Yigit for a third time with a left hook, Ramos intervened.
Main image: Amanda Westcott/Showtime.