WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero has accused Ryan Garcia of avoiding a rematch after their title fight earlier this year. Romero claims Garcia’s team backed out of a fully agreed deal, wasting six months before he moved on to other opponents.
Romero, who defeated Garcia by unanimous decision to win the title, stated that all terms for a second fight were in place before Garcia withdrew from the commitment. He insisted the failure to secure the bout was entirely down to Garcia’s camp. Speaking to the media, Romero said: “They straight ducked me, bro. We had an immediate rematch, and then we tried to do it again, bro. They just kept ducking,”
The champion detailed the extent of the now-failed negotiations, suggesting the fight was moments from being finalised. “We had a whole immediate rematch. We had a side bet, we had the venue, we had the purses, we had splits, everything. We had every little detail of the rematch set. And then he ran away and didn’t want to do it.”
The fallout from the collapsed talks left Romero without a fight for a significant period. He expressed clear frustration over the delay it caused in his career. “Ryan wasted six months of my time,” Romero said. He also pushed back against any suggestion that he was avoiding other top contenders, noting that his team pursued fights with both Conor Benn and Devin Haney. Of the potential Benn fight, Romero stated, “We had the whole deal done. We were going to fight May 30th in New York. We had the Barclays Center on that date,”
With the Garcia rematch no longer an option, both fighters have moved in different directions. Romero is now scheduled to make his first title defence against Teofimo Lopez in a pay-per-view main event on August 22 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Garcia has reportedly shifted his attention towards a potential fight with his WBC mandatory challenger, Conor Benn, later in the year. The separate schedules effectively end any chance of a Romero-Garcia rematch in the immediate future.
