By: Hans Themistode
Fans have undoubtedly enjoyed the nonstop trash talk between WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, and former WBA interim titlist, Rolando “Rolly” Romero.
While Rolly has insisted that Haney is his “daughter” and he’ll baby him in the ring, Haney has responded by calling the skills of Rolly “trash.” Rather than continue to go back forth through social media, both fighters have expressed a willingness to put the phones down, pick up the gloves and settle things in the ring.
Eddie Hearn, former promoter Haney, believes that with everything that’s been said, a matchup between the pair would bring a ton of eyeballs to the television screen.
“I think that’s a fight that would have a lot of juice in it,” said Hearn on the Ak and Barak Show. “I think it’s a fight that would have a lot of beef in it. Therefore, it’s a fight that makes sense.”
With the WBA sanctioning body pushing forward to remove all interim titleholders across all weight classes, Rolly, subsequently, saw his year and a half-title reign come to an end. Recently, the Las Vegas, Nevada resident picked up a knockout victory over Anthony Yigit earlier this year in mid-July.
As for Haney, he’s continued to laugh at the mere thought that a matchup between himself and Rolly would be anything other than one-sided. Coming off the biggest win of his career, a unanimous decision victory over former multiple division titlist Jorge Linares earlier this year, Haney is currently sifting through his options.
Just over a month ago, former 130-pound champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, successfully moved up in weight to take on Javier Fortuna. With the win, Diaz snagged the WBC interim title and is now the mandatory challenger to Haney and his full championship status. Since pulling off the win, Hearn has extended his hand in the direction of Diaz, in the hopes of lining up a showdown between him and Haney.
Although a contest between the WBC lightweight titlist and Rolly is the sexier matchup on paper, Hearn simply isn’t convinced that it would be competitive.
“I must say that the target remains JoJo Diaz for November for Devin Haney. That’s the fight we want to make because that’s a real fight. No disrespect to Rolly but, I just don’t think that’s a difficult fight for Devin Haney.”