Regis Prograis isn’t ruling out the possibility of former WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero beating Ryan Garcia in their fight on Times Square in New York next May.
Sparring Session Flashback
The former two-time 140-lb champion Prograis feels that with Rolly (16-2, 13 KOs) being so wild with his punches and difficult to time, he could catch Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) with something. Regis points to an sparring session between Garcia and Rolando from 2018 to support his case for Rolly winning.
Sparring has nothing to do with a real fight, especially when it occurred seven years ago when Garcia was rail-thin and still a teenager. Rolly has looked like a below-average fighter throughout his career, and arguably should have additional two defeats on his resume from his fights against Ismael Barroso and Jackson Marinez, which would make his true record was 14-4.
“Rolly and Ryan, I saw the sparring footage. I think that’s actually not a predictable fight, because both of them are so wild, and both of them can land punches,” said Regis Prograis to MillCity Boxing, discussing the May 2nd fight between Ryan Garcia and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero at Times Square in New York.
“Ryan can land big punches, and Rolly can land big punches. I would say Ryan, but I don’t know if you saw the sparring. Rolly was beating the s*** out of Ryan in the gym. Rolly is wild. and sometimes it’s hard to time and fight somebody that’s wild like that.
“So, I would go with Ryan, but I’m not counting Rolly out until I hit him with something. I favor Ryan because of he has more big-fight experience and stuff like that. I favor him because he’s a bigger star. He has that hook, but at the same time, Rolly is wild and could catch him with something. So, I would just favor Ryan, but it’ll be an interesting fight for sure,” said Prograis.
Regis giving Rolly Romero way too much credit for a sparring session that occurred seven years ago in 2018. Ryan was 19 at the time and Rolly 22. Kingry is now 26, and a lot bigger than he was during that sparring session. The way that Rolly bum-rushed Garcia during that sparring would get him knocked out today because he would get nailed by one of his left hooks.
Rolly would likely lose to Ryan’s past opponents, Oscar Duarte, Devin Haney, and Javier Fortuna. Garcia would be better off fighting a rematch with Duarte rather than using the recently knocked out Romero as his opponent because there’s no gain in fighting him now nor was there ever. It’s surprising that Turki Al-Sheikh didn’t veto this choice of opponent. If it had been me, I’d say, ‘No, Rolly is unsuitable for the main event on the Times Square card. He’s not worthy of even being on the undercard.’
Haney Rematch Inevitable
“Yeah, I do,” said Prograis when asked if he favors Garcia in a rematch with Devin Haney. “If Devin can beat Ryan, he can show his greatness. If you can beat someone that beat you like that [it’s special]. When you take all the supplements that he [Ryan] was taking, and we take that out [the rematch can be different].”
It’s a no-brainer that Garcia will beat Devin Haney in the rematch. For the fans that are clinging to the belief that the only reason Ryan won was because he tested positive for Ostarine, they’re kidding themselves. He won because he was the better fighter, and Haney can’t take a hard punch.
Devin’s habitat of constant clinching that he’s developed from his fight against Jorge Linares came back to bite him on his backside in this fight, because that put him right in the firing line for Ryan’s short left hooks.Haney should have seen that from watching the tape of Garcia in training camp, and made sure he didn’t try holding.
Unfortunately, the excessive holding that Devin does has become too ingrained for him to stop using. If you take that away from Haney, it would break him, leaving him as a fractured, vulnerable fighter, food for almost anyone from 135 to 147. His whole game is built around jabbing and holding now.
“We don’t know if it was true or not true, but the s*** still happened [Garcia testing positive for Ostarine],” said Regis. “We can say whatever was in his system, but that fight still happened. He still dropped him, hurt him, and dropped him three times. If he [Haney] can come out of that and win, that would really show his greatness.
Regis on Haney vs. Ramirez
“It’s possible [Kingry knocking out Haney in rematch], but we got to see what Devin is on. We got to see what he does with [Jose] Ramirez first. In boxing, anything is possible,” said Prograis.
Regis is right about fans needing to see if Haney will win his fight against former WBA and WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) on May 2nd because he’s likely to lose to him. Turki didn’t say anything about Haney needing to win his fight against Ramirez for him to get the rematch Kingry in October. So, it’s likely that it won’t matter if Haney gets beaten by Ramirez. That’s a throwaway fight.
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