LAS VEGAS – Rolando Romero has had more exciting nights and more spectacular victories, but he certainly won’t mind tonight. After a tough run of fights that saw him lose by knockout to Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz, get outclassed by 40-year-old Ismael Barroso before picking up a highly controversial stoppage victory, Romero needed a clean, undisputed win more than anything else, and that’s what he got Saturday against Manuel Jaimes at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
To be honest, the duel – which opened on the pay-per-view program PBC on Prime with the headline fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga – was not a great or even particularly good fight. But it was enough. At least the number of punches landed has increased, after Jaimes landed only one punch and Romero exactly zero in the first three minutes.
The often bombastic Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) was held back during fight week and was much the same on the ropes Saturday night, seemingly instructed to box within himself, pay attention to the fundamentals, avoid making bad mistakes and seize opportunities when they presented themselves. Jaimes (16-2-1, 11 KOs) was ready to go and always tried to take the fight away from Romero, but his own fundamentals left something to be desired and he too often struck with his arms instead of digging his toes into the mat. Romero, on the other hand, stayed compact throughout, working behind solid guard and keeping his punches short and strong.
“Jaimes came forward a lot, but I controlled the pace,” Romero said afterward. “The fight went exactly the way I wanted it to.”
After that exceptionally quiet opening round, the pace gradually picked up. Jaimes was constantly coming forward, trying to land right punches from the top, and Romero was trying to dodge, roll and counter. Jaimes had his share of strikes, but they rarely seemed to have much impact, mainly because Jaimes simply didn’t brace himself enough when throwing.
The pattern of the fight soon became clear: Jaimes would advance, Romero would look for openings, then unleash two- and three-punch combinations that would shake Jaimes’ jaw and knock him off balance. Romero’s success rate was aided by his hard jab and repeated, heavy strikes to Jaimes’ body that would thwart any advance by Jaimes and allow Las Vegan to succeed with his combinations to the head.
“The judges saw what they saw,” Jaimes said after the fight. “I have to watch the video to make my own judgement. I could have been more active, that would have helped me land more hits.”
Overall, it was a calm, relatively quiet, but ultimately dominant performance from Romero, who did enough in each round to win almost every three-minute block in the end, which was reflected in the overall scores of 99-91.
“I needed a tough 10-round fight against a hungry opponent and I got that tonight,” Romero said. “I did a lot of things tonight that I should have done in my previous fights.”
We are not used to this from Romero, but at the moment it was exactly what he needed.
Kieran Mulvaney has written about boxing, broadcast, and podcasted for HBO, Showtime, ESPN, and Reuters, among others. He is also a regular contributor to National Geographic, has written several books about the Arctic and Antarctic, and is happiest when spending time with wild polar bears. His website is kieranmulvaney.com.
