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SAN ANTONIO – Rolando Romero has knocked out all three southpaws he has faced in the first round.
The brash lightweight scored six knockdowns altogether in those three fights. The unbeaten WBA interim 135-pound champion has taken so much confidence from those victories he predicted another first-round knockout against a much better left-handed opponent Saturday night.
Romero promised during a press conference Thursday at the Thompson San Antonio-Riverwalk hotel that he won’t need more than a single round to stop former 140-pound contender Anthony Yigit.
The Swedish southpaw took this fight on less than two weeks’ notice, once Romero’s original opponent, Nashville’s Austin Dulay, withdrew from it due to a knee injury. Yigit (24-1-1, 8 KOs), who has never weighed in at less than 138½ pounds for a professional fight, will make his lightweight debut when he meets Romero (13-0, 11 KOs).
“Of course, first round,” Romero told Showtime’s Brian Custer, the moderator of the press conference. “Yeah, just like that, I’m gonna call it. I’m confident with what I say.”
The 29-year-old Yigit’s lone loss was a technical-knockout defeat to former IBF junior welterweight champ Ivan Baranchyk following the seventh round in October 2018. That defeat occurred as part of the World Boxing Super Series’ 140-pound tournament at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
Las Vegas’ Romero, who is promoted by Floyd Mayweather’s company, is certain he’ll get rid of the 2012 Olympian much faster than Russia’s Baranchyk (20-2, 13 KOs).
“I just always liked fighting lefties,” Romero said. “So, you know, I’ve prepared for a lefty. Austin Dulay was a lefty, you know, and I mean, this camp’s been amazing. Sh*t, I can’t even say all the times I’ve stopped people this camp. So, I’m looking good. I’m looking really good.”
Stockholm’s Yigit didn’t pay much mind to Romero’s bold prediction.
“All respect to him,” Yigit told BoxingScene.com. “He’s saying he’s gonna go in and knock people out, and that’s what he does. So, I can’t really say much. … I don’t listen to a lot of it. You know when you walk past a dog, and it barks and you don’t really pay much attention? It’s a little bit like that.”
Romero-Yigit is the co-feature of Showtime’s three-fight telecast from AT&T Center, the home arena of the NBA’s Spurs. Their 12-round fight will immediately precede the main event – a 12-round, 154-pound title unification fight in which Houston’s Jermell Charlo (34-1, 18 KOs), the IBF/WBA/WBC champion, will square off against Argentina’s Brian Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs), the WBO champ.
Showtime’s tripleheader will begin at 9 p.m. ET with a 10-round middleweight match between Uruguayan prospect Amilcar Vidal (12-0, 11 KOs) and Immanuwel Aleem (18-2-2, 11 KOs), of Richmond, Virginia.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.