By: Sean Crose
Disturbing allegations pointing to Rolando Romero being a serial sex predator have put his December battle against Tank Davis up in the air. The allegations, leveled by several women and appearing on social media, are unpleasant to read. The allegations also appear to be similar, although they are made by different people. With that in mind, there’s no proof – at the moment, at least – that Romero has done anything wrong. The matter, however, puts Showtime and PBC, which is broadcasting the match, in a difficult position. Speaking with Behind the Gloves Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza said the following: “It’s a lot of disturbing stuff, concerning allegations. We’re looking at it very closely. We don’t want to rush into a decision before we know all the facts.”
Romero, a 14-0 native of Las Vegas, is scheduled to fight the 25-0 Davis for Davis’ WBA lightweight title at Los Angeles’ Staples’ Center on December 5th. With only two of his fights having gone the distance, Romero is seen as nothing if not an interesting opponent for the highly skilled Davis, who has stopped all but one of his own professional opponents. Brash and colorful, Romero has recently claimed to TMZ that “Tank’s gonna knocked the fuck out. And, whoever believes otherwise can go fuck themselves.” If the allegations lodged against him prove to have merit, however, it’s hard to see Romero getting the chance to prove his words to be true.
Meanwhile, Espinoza already appears to be putting contingency plans in motion. “If that turns out that we need a replacement opponent there are guys that we’ve already lined up,” he said to Behind the Gloves, “because you just have to do that. That’s the world we live in these days.” Espinoza didn’t say who the possible replacement opponents are. “We were as surprised as anybody else,” he said of the accusations against Romero.
Although it’s safe to say few have expected Romero to win against Davis, the man’s size and power, coupled with what appears to be extreme confidence, unquestionably makes a matchup between the two interesting. “You catch Tank, you catch anybody the right way, anybody is vulnerable,” Espinoza told FightHype. “A lot of the reason that fight got made,” he said, “is because of the personal rivalry,” between Rolando and Davis. For now, then, it seems, the match is still on.
Boxing Insider will be sure to keep readers abreast of this still developing story as details emerge.
