Regis Prograis is not ruling out the possibility of former WBA light heavyweight champion Rolando Rolly Romero defeating Ryan Garcia in their fight in New York’s Times Square next May.
Sparring Session Flashback
Former two-time 140lb champion Prograis believes Rollie (16-2, 13 KOs) is so wild with his jabs and hard to time, he could catch Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) with something. Regis points to a sparring match between Garcia and Rolando from 2018 to support his case for Rolli to win.
Sparring has nothing to do with a real fight, especially when it happened seven years ago when Garcia was thin and still a teenager. Rolli has looked like a below-average fighter throughout his career, and should probably have two more losses on his resume from fights against Ismael Barroso and Jackson Marinez, which would bring his true record to 14-4.
“Roli and Ryan, I saw the sparring video. “I don’t think it’s really a predictable fight because they’re both so wild, and they can both land,” Regis Prograis said. MillCity Bookingdiscussing the May 2 fight between Ryan Garcia and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in New York’s Times Square.
“Ryan can throw big punches and Rollie can throw big punches. I would say Ryan, but I don’t know if you’ve seen the sparring. Rolly beat Ryan in the gym. Rolly is wild. and sometimes it’s hard to time and fight someone who is so wild.
“So I’d go with Ryan, but I’m not counting Rollie out until I hit him with something. I prefer Ryan because he has more experience in big fights and such. I favor him because he is a bigger star. He’s got that hook, but at the same time, Rollie’s wild and could catch him on something. So I would just favor Ryan, but it will be an interesting fight for sure,” said Prograis.
Regis gives Rollie Romero too much credit for the sparring that took place seven years ago in 2018. Ryan was 19 at the time and Rollie was 22. Kingry is now 26, and much bigger than he was during that sparring. The way Rollie Boom rushed Garcia during that sparring would have knocked him out today because he would have been nailed by one of his left hooks.
Rolli would likely lose to Ryan’s previous opponents, Oscar Duarte, Devin Haney and Javier Forta. Garcia would be better off fighting Duarte in a rematch than using the recently knocked out Romero as his opponent, as there is no point in fighting him now and never has been. It is surprising that Turki Al-Sheikh did not veto this choice of opponent. If it were me, I would say: ‘No, Rollie is not fit to main event the Times Square card. He’s not even worthy of being on the undercard.’
A rematch with Hane is inevitable
“Yeah, I do,” Prograis said when asked if he favors Garcia in a rematch against Devin Haney. “If Devin can beat Ryan, he can show his greatness. If you can beat someone who beat you like that (it’s special). When you take all the supplements he (Ryan) was taking and we take that out (the rematch could be different).”
There is no doubt that Garcia will defeat Devin Haney in the rematch. For fans who cling 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 Haynie can’t take a hard punch.
Devin’s constant clinch habitat that he developed from his fight against Jorge Linares came back to bite him in the back in this fight, as it put him right in the firing line for Ryan’s short left hooks. Haney should have seen that from the training camp tape of Garcia, and made sure he didn’t try to hold it.
Unfortunately, the excessive holding that Devin does has become too ingrained for him to stop using. If you take that away from Hannay, it would break him, leaving him as a broken, vulnerable fighter, fodder for just about anyone from 135 to 147. His entire game is built around jabbing and holding now.
“We don’t know if it was true or not, but the s*** still happened (Garcia testing positive for Ostarine),” Regis said. “We can say whatever was in his system, but that fight still happened.” He still dropped it, hurt it and dropped it three times. If he (Haney) can come out of that and win, it would really show his greatness.
Regis on Haney v. Ramirez
“It’s possible (Kingry knocked out Haney in the rematch) but we have to see where Devin is at.” We have to see what they do with (Jose) Ramirez first. Everything is possible in boxing,” said Prograis.
Regis is right about fans needing to see if Hannay wins a fight against former WBA and WBO welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) on May 2 because he will likely lose to him. Turki said nothing about Hannay needing to win the Ramirez fight to get a rematch with Kingry in October. So it probably won’t matter if Ramirez beats Hani. It’s a throw fight.
