Rohan Polanco (16-0, 10 KOs) convincingly defeated Fabian Maidana (24-4, 18 KOs) on the undercard of the Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas card this past Sunday. He did so by landing nearly triple the number of punches landed by Maidana, 231 to 82, respectively. Polanco did so with precision and accuracy, landing 51.7 percent of his punches (Compubox). For as dominant as he was, he did so at less than 100 percent.
Polanco came into the fight with an injury to his right hand. “I was not at 100 percent; I had an injured hand. I was only fighting with my left hand. With my left hand, I dominated him, and I punished him well. Which means if I was at 100 percent, he wouldn’t have gone the distance,” said Rohan of his performance. Polanco is a 2020 Olympian and, since turning pro, has recorded 16 consecutive victories with 10 knockouts. He now appears poised to make the jump to challenge the best in the welterweight division, wanting to fight champions. If it were up to him, he’d fight the best in the division.
When asked if he could pick his opponent, whom would he choose, without hesitation he said, “Brian Norman….Brian Norman, yes, Brian Norman the world champion. That’s the fight I would like next.” His second option would be to fight Rolly Romero, he has a desire to fight only world champions. Rohan is a talented boxer who’s been impressive in his young career. A fight against either fighter would be a step up in competition.
Brian Norman Jr. is set to take on Jin Sasaki on June 19th in Japan. He captured the WBO interim welterweight championship against Giovani Santillan in May of 2024 and was then elevated to regular champion when Terence Crawford vacated the title. Norman Jr. is promoted by Top Rank and would prove the least difficult match to make due to both boxers being under the same promotional company.
If the match is made in the near future, it would be a fan-friendly fight between two highly offensive fighters. Rolly Romero is promoted by PBC and although they’ve stated they’re now willing to work with Top Rank it would pose the more challenging in terms of matchmaking. Romero also fought this past weekend in the Fatal Fury tripleheader. He was the underdog in the main event against superstar Ryan Garcia.
Romero scored a surprising knockdown in the second round, which caused Garcia to be offensively tentative for the remainder of the match. Romero earned a unanimous decision victory and captured the WBA welterweight title. This was Rolly’s first match at welterweight, and he appeared stronger than in his previous matches at super lightweight. Having gone 3-2 in his last five matches, Rolly could appear as the better matchup for Polanco. This would also be a match that would draw great fan interest due to their offensive styles.
Rohan Polanco Interview
Last Updated on 05/07/2025
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