By Allan Fox: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero trashed Shakur Stevenson this week for his “boring” fighting style, saying he’s “jealous” of his talent.
Shakur (17-0, 9 KOs) will have his WBO super featherweight title in the mix this Saturday night when he faces WBC champ Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) on ESPN+ and ESPN at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Stevenson is expected to beat Valdez soundly, but it obviously won’t be an easy fight because he’s facing an incredible talent with power in both hands.
What Stevenson can’t afford is another performance like the ones he put in against Joet Gonzalez and Jeremia Nakathila.
Those were two of the dullest fights that have been for years in the sport, and it was hard to watch those contests without thinking that Top Rank had an impossible task of transforming Stevenson into a star.
If Stevenson loses this fight, Rolly will get the last laugh and be able to gloat about it in the short term. However, Rolly (14-0, 12 KOs) has his problems next month when he takes on Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis for his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title on May 28th on Showtime PPV.
Rolly blasts “boring” Shakur
“Shakur Stevenson is jealous and punches like a b****,” said Rolly Romero to Fight Hub TV in reacting to Shakur Stevenson making negative comments about him.
“Shakur Stevenson is jealous, and he punches like a b***,” Rolly continued. “He fights like a b***, he looks like a b***, and he cries like a b***. That’s not me talking s***. That’s me being honest and truthful.
“Boxers are boring as f***. I’m going to just touch you for 12 rounds. That ain’t boxing. F*** the mother f*** up.”
Valdez vs. Stevenson = 50-50 fight says Teofimo
“I think it’s a good fight for the fans. It depends on who wants it more. It’s a unification bout, and it’s for the WBC and the WBO,” said Teofimo Lopez to Fight Hub TV.
“Shakur is a young, hungry fighter,” said Teofimo. “Oscar Valdez, he’s been showing back to back that he can fight through anything. From a broken jaw to coming back from knockdowns.
“I can’t pick who I’m going for. It’s a 50-50 fght. Everyone is going to side with who they’re going to side with, but overall, if you look at it stylistic-wise and statistic-wise, it’s going to be a 50-50 fight because Shakur doesn’t like pressure, but he’s able to withstand it in a different way.
“Oscar Valdez, he’s not good with boxers. So you got to look at those two things. What are the pros and cons of both fighters? They can say whatever they want, but it’s going to be a great fight,” said Teofimo.
Stevenson won’t be happy hearing Teofimo Lopez say his fight with Valdez is a “50-50” match, but Teo could be right. If Stevenson doesn’t run the whole night as he did against Joet and Nakathilia, Valdez wins based on his superior firepower.
