Tank Davis vs Rolly Romero (Fight Analysis)
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 28 May 2022
This Saturday in Brooklyn, NY at Barclays Center WBA (regular) lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (26-0, 24KOs) will answer the challenge of WBA interim champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero (14-0, 12KOs) in what promises to be an exciting fight.
There is a “buzz” in the boxing world about this fight because it’s only the backdrop of what’s going on. There is uncertainty if Tank will resign with his current Promoter in search of more lucrative fight opportunities or will he remain with his current Promoter. Some news outlets have reported Tank will not renew his current contract whereas some news outlets have reported that Tank is undecided.
Rolly and Tank were supposed to fight back in December in 2020 last year, but sexual assault allegations against Rolly caused the fight to be cancelled. Allegations by Rolly’s accusers were unfounded or unsubstantiated and so the fight is now back on. Rolly has made the BOLD prediction that he will knock out Tank in 1 round! The fight seems to be personal from Rolly’s perspective and Rolly has shown NO respect for Tank.
Whoever emerges as the victor of this fight will have enough clout to command some big paydays against the Kambosos-Haney winner, Ryan Garcia, Shakur Stevenson, and Vasyl Lomencheko if he resumes his career provided the Russian-Ukrainian war ends.
What are the Keys to victory for both fighters? First what must the champion, Tank, do to successfully defend his title?
Rolando Romero reacts after Gervonta Davis pushes him off the stage during Friday's weighin.
Tank is a very skilled fighter who stands 5ft 5½ in. Tank can box, he has knockout power, and has speed which are some of the things he has in his arsenal that made him a world champion. It appears Rolly does not respect Tank so at the start of the first bell Tank must assert himself and earn Rolly’s respect through stiff and hard punches. Rolly must respect Tank’s punching power so he has to immediately change his game plan from brawling to something else, which will likely work to Tank’s advantage. Rolly’s height is listed at 5ft 8in, which should not be a problem for Tank because Mario Barrios was listed at 5ft 10in (taller than Rolly) and Tank knocked him out to win his title. Tank knows how to outbox and beat tall fighters. Tank must fight a disciplined fight which means he must pick his shots and box but he must also fight with Rolly when he has to.
Conditioning will likely be a big factor because Rolly will likely expend a lot of energy trying to knock out Tank the first half of the fight while Davis will also use a lot of energy to counter Rolly. If Tank fights a disciplined fight which is to box Rolly, fight when he has to, and cause Rolly to tire so that he is ineffective in the later rounds, he may be able to stop Rolly late in the fight.
What does Rolly need to do to defeat Tank?
I have seen Rolly spar and in a couple of fights. With all due respect Rolly is a brawler and reminds me of former two division world champion Ricardo Mayorga. Mayorga won two world welterweight titles back to back by beating two good champions in 2003 (Andrew Lewis and Vernon Forest) who arguably were better skilled then him. Mayorga got into great shape, was strong, and he brawled his way to victory in those two fights shocking the boxing world. Some critics are using the fact that Tank is more experienced then Rolly which is a fair assessment. A look at both fighters records show that Tank has more KOs (24) to Rolly total fight which currently stand at 14. However, in the scheme of things that means nothing because fighters with even less experience have beat seasoned fighters with a lot more fights. An example of that is Vasyl Lomencheko who won his first world title in his 3rd professional fight against Gary Russel who was 24-0 at the time.
For Rolly to defeat Tank he has to be in the best shape of his life and prepared to fight non-stop the entire 12 rounds from the sound of the opening bell until the last bell. He has to keep the pressure and smother Tank in the corner. Rolly must not allow Tank to square off in the center of the ring with his jab. Rolly must make this a telephone booth fight for those of us who are old enough to remember what a telephone booth was. That means no distance between Tank’s punches. Rolly must also keep his hands up for good defense because if Rolly has momentum all that can change with one punch because of Tanks knockout power. Rolly can ask Mario Barrios what happened late in his fight with Tank.
This fight will go back and forth between Rolly and Tank where both fighters will have their moments. Rolly by KO in 5th round.
Boxing Notes
It’s been 32 days exactly since Errol Spence unified ¾ of the welterweight title when he annexed Yordenis Ugas’s WBA welterweight title to add to his WBC/IBF titles. He immediately called for a unification against P4P #1 and WBO welterweight champion Terrence Crawford. Word is both camps are negotiating, but according to an Executive privy to negotiations, Fighters want Mayweather-Pacquiao type money. Doesn’t hurt to ask! The only other news from another news outlet is that the fight will be in Las Vegas this summer (https://www.marca.com/en/boxing/2022/05/20/6287f085268e3e6a268b4571.html) . As of the drafting of this article, no official word. Perhaps it will be announced after the Tank vs Rolly fight. The boxing world is on edge whether the fight will finally happen or not. Let’s relax and hope for the best as some have said, “No news is good news”, meaning we haven’t gotten word the fight won’t happen…After what I saw last week when David Benavidez destroyed David Lemieux I dare say Benavidez is “The Man” to beat at 168lbs. If Canelo defeats Gennady Golovkin, a Benavidez fight can rank as one of the all-time highest PPV shows rivaling ALL other PPV shows that broke PPV records. David Lemieux is NOT a shot fighter! Even Benavidez said he was aware of Lemieux’s power after he hurt him. Lemieux remains a dangerous and world class fighter who could win a 168lbs title if Canelo vacates any of the other 3 titles he has (WBO, IBF, WBA)… Glad to hear Promoter Bob Arum who promotes Tyson Fury say that Fury is waiting on the outcome of the Joshua-Usyk rematch before making a final decision on retirement. It would be great if Fury fights the winner…Also glad to hear Deontay Wilder has decided to resume his boxing career. It would be great if fight fans finally got the fight they craved for which is Wilder-Joshua.
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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