(ThyBlackMan.com) The fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs) vs Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (14-0, 12KOs) is scheduled for Saturday, May 28th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and is expected to be a barnburner. This title fight is slated for twelve rounds as Davis tries to defend his WBA Lightweight crown for the second time and simultaneously shut ‘Rolly’ Romero’s mouth once and for all.
For one, the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champion ‘Tank’ Davis and mandatory challenger ‘Rolly’ Romero displayed a few months worth of bottled up tension this week.
That’s usually the main ingredient to make a memorable bout.
This unreleased tension goes way back to 2019 when Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero took it upon himself to repeatedly disrespect Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis online – to get this fight – so he now has the opportunity to cash in on his Instagram claims.
Secondly, during pre fight promotional events, Davis and Romero disrespected each other whenever a microphone was turned on and it was made very clear – witnessed in High Definition 1080p – “these fighters did not care for each other.”
We were treated to schoolyard fighting words like:
“He’s a dumb fighter,” from Davis
And off key responses like:
“I’m going to knock him out in the first round,” from Romero.
But wait… There’s more.
Thursday – at the press conference, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero exchanged insults at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott, two blocks away from Saturday’s ringside seats.
Friday – at the weigh-in event, located right outside The Barclays Center, ‘Tank’ Davis and ‘Rolly’ Romero was posing for their final media photos, on a make shift stage, right before headline grabbing drama broke loose.
It went like this.
Both fighters had their elbows poking out in the air, arms in a muscle flexing stance, too close to the other – battling for position in front of the media cameras. Romero stepped in front of Davis and the fighters had a brief physical encounter.
The next second, challenger ‘Rolly’ Romero fell off the weigh-in stage and almost sparked a daytime brawl between their respective entourages.
It seemed as if the Davis vs Romero weigh-in was turning into ‘The Fight on Flatbush Avenue’ when things got hectic on stage for a few minutes during the Showtime live stream.
Both champ and challenger – had to be separated by security guards as tensions ran high. Davis said, “I did it on purpose to get in his mind,” pushing us further into his psychological warfare games. Coming up to his eleventh title fight, Tank Davis pulled an old school stunt, twenty-four hours before fight time.
The push against Romero was personal, strategic and captured by cameras – spreading worldwide in seconds. ‘Rolly’ was caught off guard, on the biggest stage, in a planned attack by Davis in defense of his WBA lightweight strap.
Was this a sign of things to come?
By pushing him off the stage, Tank reversed Rolly’s verbal antics and made things physical from now on.
‘Rolly’ Romero seemed a little flustered by the gesture and spat a mouthful of curses toward Davis while the champ shook his head and smiled his approval.
Surely that was the last time Davis and Romero would share the same room until it’s fight time.
Yeah, fight time. Remember?
It’s what we all look forward to on Saturday night.
It’s the reason we root for this Baltimore southpaw and cheer for this unorthodox Romero from Las Vegas.
I can easily point out the differences between champ and challenger but I will stick with their similarities for now.
1– They’re both heavy-handed fighters, able to knock opponents ‘into next week’ with either hand.
2– They have a combined record of thirty-six knockouts in forty fights.
3– They also have a beef with each other that only a ring-walk will settle.
“It’s been a good week for boxing,” said Davis’s long time trainer Calvin Ford, “And Tank would love to shut his mouth.”
This championship title fight is scheduled for twelve rounds on Showtime Pay Per View and I wouldn’t advise anyone with a remote interest in boxing to miss it.
I’ve learned over the years that a fight of this magnitude will never need a boxing ring.
Why? Some may inquire…
Because when you find two fighters that despise each other, all one needs is a date.
That day is tomorrow, Saturday, May 28th – Be sure to tune in.
Staff Writer; Deigo Mack