Tank, Rolly don't mince words as they launch promotion of Dec. 5 showdown

Plus tons of notes: Haney-Diaz close; Rivas wins bridgerweight title; Wallin wants Whyte fight rescheduled; Quick hits; more

Oct 23, 2021

Hopefully, the fight will be as good as the absurd and entertaining amount of trash talk Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Rolando “Rolly” Romero hurled at each other when they met at their kickoff news conference this week at the City View Terrace above Staples Center in Los Angeles.

They don’t particularly like each other. Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, says they despise one another and recalled the time in 2019 when they nearly came to blows at ringside of the Errol Spence Jr.-Mikey Garcia fight before being calmed by Floyd Mayweather.

Romero has been calling for the fight for years and Davis was happy to sign when Mayweather Promotions offered it to him. So, now they will square off for Davis’ secondary lightweight title on Dec. 5 (Showtime PPV, 8 p.m. ET) — a Sunday night — at Staples Center.

It should be an entertaining fight between big punchers and also a fun-filled promotion, although cover the ears of the children given the outlandish amount of N-words dropped and profanity used, mainly from Romero, who launches F-bombs as though he is paid per utterance.

“Everyone’s going to see Dec. 5 — I’m going to knock this dwarf the f--- out. That’s how it is,” Romero, wearing a fur coat with no shirt and not giving a damn, said to Davis. “You hear that? I’m gonna knock you the f---- out. You a stupid, f------ dwarf, man. I’m gonna knock this chump the f--- out.

“I’ve been calling Tank out since 2017. We were supposed to spar in 2018 and he didn’t f------ show up to the gym. He did that twice because he knew he was getting his ass beat. Dec. 5, you’re getting knocked the f--- out, simple as that.”

So, Romero (14-0, 12 KOs), 26, of Las Vegas, made his feelings and intentions clear, but so did Davis, who will be making the second defense of his secondary 135-pound belt as he returns to the division following an 11th-round knockout of Mario Barrios on June 26 to win a secondary junior welterweight belt.

“Rolly is just here to talk. He’s trying to talk his way into winning,” Davis said. “That ain’t gonna work. But he’s scared. I’m coming to fight.

“They only talk about his power, but this is boxing. His skills are not up to par with mine. He can’t even talk about power, because everyone knows I’m bringing it. You can shoot bullets, but how are you going to defend yourself when the bullets are coming back? You trash. He got a fur on and it’s 80 degrees.”

Asked why he is facing Romero when, as the established star, he could face anyone, Davis (25-0, 24 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Baltimore, said he took what was offered to him and, besides, he doesn’t much care for Romero.

“He’s been talking for a long time,” Davis said. “He’s trying to sell a fight, but I’m going to show him that he’s a clown, he’s a chump on Dec. 5. I’m ain’t come to play. I ain’t come to talk. I’m here to fight. I don’t take this personally. To me, this isn’t beef, this is business. Leave it like that.

“I was on a mission when I fought Jose Pedraza for (my first world) title (at junior lightweight). I didn’t do the trash talking. I went in there and proved that I’m a top guy. This n---- is a clown and is just here to talk. I’m going to do the talking in the ring.

“I’ve never once turned down any fight. I’m not scared of anybody. I’m going to fight everybody. I’ll fight a heavyweight. This is nothing to me. I’ve survived a lot of stuff. He’s supposed to come here and sell the fight. I’m supposed to win. I’d rather punish him for 12 rounds than knock him out quick. Part of me wants to humble him, but the most important thing to do is just go out there and get the job done.”

With only 14 pro fights, Romero, who was recently stripped of his interim lightweight title by the WBA when the organization stripped 11 interim titleholders as part of its title reduction plan, was asked if he was stepping up in class too soon.

“There’s been world champions with less fights that me,” Romero said. “I came into this sport at 17 years old and I’ve made the most out of what the hell I’ve done. I’m 14-0 and fighting on pay-per-view and I’m knocking Tank the f--- out. Everybody come watch me knock him out on Dec. 5.”

Romero had the stones to predict a first-round knockout against Davis, who has never even been knocked down.

“He’s got a big-ass f------ head. It’s gonna be f------ hard to miss it,” Romero said. “He gets touched up by every opponent he faces. Leo Santa Cruz was beating the f--- out of him. Barrios was beating the f--- out of him too. He gets f------ punched by everybody.”

Mayweather, who promotes both of them, seemed genuinely excited about the fight.

“I believe Tank is one of the best fighters in the world. Rolly says he wants to fight the best,” Mayweather said. “Come Dec. 5, it’s going to be a hell of a fight. Rolly is tough. He’ll fight anybody. He’ll spar anybody. That eagerness makes this an intriguing matchup. Rolly just wants to prove he’s the best. He’s also a hell of a puncher. Every time we presented an opponent to him, he’s accepted every one of them. He talked his way into this fight and he also earned it.

“Tank is doing record-breaking numbers. I always told him it would come in due time. I told him that the same way I sell out arenas you’re going to do the same thing one day. He had patience and that’s what we’re doing. These guys are the future of boxing. I don’t see this fight going the distance. Two undefeated knockout artists.”

Ellerbe went even further: “There’s no way humanly possible that this fight doesn’t end in a knockout.”

Haney, Diaz near deal

The deal is not quite done yet but it appears as though Devin Haney will defend his WBC lightweight belt against interim titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. on Dec. 3 or Dec. 4 in a DAZN main event in Las Vegas, according to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.

“I'm speaking to the representatives for ‘JoJo’ Diaz. We want to make the fight,” Hearn told iFL TV on Friday. “We're doing everything that we can. We need to get it done in the next few days. We've made a bigger offer now. I can't see in a million years how he wouldn't take the fight, but anything could happen.”

Hearn said the offer is bigger than the one Ryan Garcia accepted to fight Diaz this fall before pulling out due to a wrist injury that required surgery this week.

Diaz and Haney have been going at it on social media and Diaz on Friday wrote that Haney wants “a rematch clause in there. That’s why it’s taking so long to get it done. But we’ll give him the beating twice if he want it. I’m making sure this fight happens for the fans.”

Haney (26-0, 15 KOs), 22, of Las Vegas, will be making his fourth defense and is coming off a unanimous decision win over former titlist Jorge Linares on May 29. Former junior lightweight titlist Diaz (32-1-1, 15 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Downey, California, is coming off a unanimous decision over perennial contender Javier Fortuna to claim the vacant interim belt on July 9.

Rivas claims bridgerweight title

In a grueling slugfest, Oscar Rivas edged Ryan Rozicki to win the first WBC bridgerweight world title on Friday night at L’Olympia de Montreal in Rivas’ adopted hometown of Montreal.

Rivas got the nod 116-111, 115-112 and 115-112 in an all-out battle with the little-known Rozicki, a big underdog, who made it far more competitive than most expected.

The WBC created the division that covers fighters from 201 pounds to 224 pounds. The other sanctioning bodies still regard anyone over 200 pounds as a heavyweight. But Rivas (28-1, 19 KOs), 34, a Colombia native, a longtime heavyweight contender, opted to try his hand in the new division and hung on to defeat Rozicki (13-1, 13 KOs), 26, of Nova Scotia, Canada, who took the fight on three weeks’ notice.

Bryant Jennings, whom Rivas knocked out in the 12th round of a heavyweight fight in January 2019, dropped out after refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and for refusing to follow Canada’s rules of admission for non-vaccinated travelers.

Rivas got off to a strong start as he applied intense pressure to Rozicki, who was taking a huge step up in competition. He weathered the early storm and began to find a home for his right hand.

For most of the fight, they stood chest-to-chest and forehead-to-forehead and banged away as each man had their moments.

Rivas, however, appeared to be at least slightly ahead, which the scorecards showed, even though he was docked a point by referee Michael Griffin for holding in the 12th round.

Wallin: Reschedule Whyte fight ASAP

Heavyweight contender Otto Wallin and promoter Dmitriy Salita made their position very clear on Friday. They want Wallin’s fight with WBC interim titlist Dillian Whyte to be rescheduled as soon as possible and for an independent doctor to examine Whyte in order to verify his claim of a shoulder injury.

Wallin was due to challenge Whyte for the interim belt on Oct. 30 at The O2 in London. However, on Wednesday, Whyte withdrew from the bout claiming he had suffered a shoulder injury. The rest of the card will go on as planned on DAZN.

Wallin and Salita are skeptical of the injury and said they have been provided with no proof of it. They believe Whyte bagged the fight in order to instead challenge champion Tyson Fury in early 2022. I wrote about the situation for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/10/23/wallin-salita-whyte-heavyweight-proof/amp/

WBA jr. featherweight order

The WBA notified junior featherweights Ra’eese Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, and Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs), 33, an Armenia native fighting out of Los Angeles, that they have 15 days to reach an agreement for a title elimination to decide the next mandatory challenger to unified titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 KOs).

However, the fight is unlikely to take place. The WBA originally ordered it on Aug. 27 and previously denied Aleem’s request for a postponement of the negotiations until Nov. 29, saying there was no reason to do so.

However, Aleem is scheduled to face Eduardo Baez in the co-feature of a Showtime card on Nov. 27 in a fight that was scheduled without the WBA being informed and then was pushed back from Sept. 18 when main event boxer Brandon Figueroa came down with Covid-19.

The WBA said if Aleem and Hovhannisyan don’t make a deal it will order a purse bid but that if “Aleem participates in a bout other than the eliminator against Hovhannisyan, his recognition will be revoked and Hovhannisyan will be certified as the mandatory challenger.”

Aleem is unlikely to withdraw from next month’s fight. Aleem was one of 11 interim titleholders the WBA recently stripped in an effort to reduce the number of titles it recognizes and instead made those fighters either mandatory challengers or ordered them fight eliminators.

Quick hits

Weights from Atlanta for Saturday night’s Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card: Jamel Herring 129.8 pounds, Shakur Stevenson 130 (for Herring's WBO junior lightweight title); Xander Zayas 153.2, Dan Karpency 153.2; Nico Ali Walsh 162, James Westley II 159.6; Evan Holyfield 151.6, Charles Stanford 151.6; Troy Isley 156.8, Nicholi Navarro 156; Roddricus Livsey 142.4, Eric Palmer 141; Haven Brady Jr. 127, Roberto Negrete 127; Antoine Cobb 144.2, Jerrion Campbell 142.4; Harley Mederos 136, Deljerro Revello 135.8.

Junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda and Josue Vargas meet in the main event and bantamweight Carlos Caraballo faces Jonas Sultan in the co-feature, but on Friday Top Rank announced the rest of the bouts for its card on Oct. 30 (ESPN+, 7:30 p.m. ET) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. In the key preliminary bout, former junior featherweight titlist Jonathan Guzman (24-1, 23 KOs), 32, of the Dominican Republic, will end a nearly two-year layoff in an eight-rounder versus Carlos Jackson (17-1, 11 KOs), 32, of Atlanta.

A pair of women’s world title fights have been added to the card headlined unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s mandatory defense against Marcus Browne on Dec. 17 (ESPN+) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, promoters Top Rank and Groupe Yvon Michel announced. Former IBF women’s junior middleweight titlist Marie-Eve Dicaire (17-1, 0 KOs), 35, of Quebec, will aim to regain her old title when she meets Cynthia Lozano (9-0, 7 KOs), 35, of Mexico, for the belt recently vacated by Claressa Shields. Also, Yesenia Gomez (19-5-3, 6 KOs), 25, of Mexico, will make the fifth defense of her WBC women’s junior flyweight belt against Kim Clavel, 31, of Montreal.

In an effort to continue its reduction of world titles, the WBA has notified the teams of junior flyweight titlist Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0, 10 KOs), 27, of Japan, and secondary titlist Esteban Bermudez (14-3-2 10 KOs), 26, of Mexico, that they have 10 days to reach an agreement for an overdue fight that has been ordered twice already this past summer. If they don’t make a deal this time, the WBA said it will order a purse bid. The split is 65-35 in Kyoguchi’s favor. Bermudez wanted an optional defense that was announced against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez on the Mikey Garcia-Sandor Martin card last Saturday, but the WBA refused to sanction it and it was canceled.

Show and tell

One of the most storied fighters in boxing history is Hall of Famer Harry Greb, who was known as “The Human Windmill” because of all the punches he threw. According to the Hall of Fame, he engaged in 299 fights during his 1913 to 1926 career, going 105-8-3 with 183 no decisions (no decisions were common in the early 20th century when boxing was outlawed in some places). Boxrec lists his official record as 108-8-3. Either way, he had a lot of fights. Greb was middleweight world champion from 1923 to 1926, but also fought the best of his era from middleweight to heavyweight and is the only man to defeat Gene Tunney (who would go on to win the heavyweight title), all while being blind in one eye after getting thumbed during an early fight. Greb retired after a 1926 rematch loss to Tiger Flowers and was considering a comeback when he had surgery to have a cataract removed from his eye and to fix his fractured nose. Greb was only 32 when he died as a result of the operation — 95 years ago on Friday. Here is one of his cards in my collection from the very condition sensitive 1948 Leaf set.

Davis-Romero photo: Esther Lin/Showtime; Haney photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing; Rivas photo: Bernard Brault/GYM

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