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Rolando Romero has no problem keeping up his bad boy persona so long as that means more people end up watching “The Sweet Science.”
The hard-punching – and frequently profane – lightweight contender has made a name for himself as one of the more abrasive personalities in boxing. While his rhetoric may be off putting to some, “Rolly” is betting that, in the main, it will draw more people to what he feels is a dying sport.
“I don’t know if I’m a villain, I don’t know if I’m a villain. I just want to whip some a–, that’s all,” Romero, 25, said on The Porter Way Podcast. “There’s no mystery that I keep things in boxing entertaining. There’s no mystery in that. We need entertaining fighters, we need entertaining fights. A lot of these fighters ain’t doing it. As simple as that. They’re not catching the attention of everybody else, so that’s why boxing is dying.
“That’s why boxing is slowly dying. It’s a bunch of boring fights where everybody knows who’s gonna win. No knockouts. None of that stuff. Nobody wants to sit down and watch a f—ing 12-round fight where nothing is happening.”
Asked to elaborate about boxing’s diminishing appeal, the Las Vegas-based Romero (14-0, 12 KOs) believes many of the viewers have left it for other alternatives.
“I feel like it’s dying,” he said. “I feel like a lot of our fans have crossed over into MMA. At least in MMA if a fight is boring, it’s over a lot quicker than a boxing fight.
“I tell you, as long as I stay in the sport, the sport is going to stay a little bit entertaining. I’ll find a way to make it entertaining, some way, somehow. Just my personality alone is good for boxing.”
Luckily for Romero, he has the power in his fists to back up some of his more brazen proclamations.
“I believe every little thing I say,” said Romero. “Does it motivate me? Well, yeah. Because I don’t want to look like a f—ing idiot. The thing about me is I go after things that other people don’t want to go after.”
Romero was last seen knocking out Anthony Yigit inside seven rounds on July 17 in San Antonio on the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano undercard.