Ryan Garcia’s Quest For Gold: WBA ‘Regular’ Welterweight Title Fight Against Rolando Romero Offers Chance To Silence Critics

The WBA announced today that they’ve approved the WBA ‘regular’ welterweight title to be at stake for the Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero fight on May 2nd at Times Square in New York City.

Belt on The Line

That will make the Garcia-Romero fight have more at stake when they meet, rather than it just being a clash that sets up a fight between Ryan and Devin Haney in October. Capturing the WBA title will make the rematch against Haney a bigger one with a title at stake.

Rolly and Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) are ranked #2 and #3, respectively, in the WBA’s rankings at welterweight. So, it makes sense that the World Boxing Association will have their ‘regular’ title on the line for their fight next month on DAZN PPV.

Ryan has often been criticized for never having captured a world title during his nine-year pro career. If he captures the WBA ‘regular’ welterweight belt, he can shut down that criticism permanently. That’ll validate his career and give him credentials that have been missing in the eyes of hardcore boxing fans who pay attention to details like this.

The downside for Garcia is that if he captures the WBA ‘regular’ title against Rolly, he must face the winner of the fight between WBA Super World champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Shakhram Giyasov. Fighting either of those guys would be tough for Ryan, as they’re both big welterweights with excellent power and technical skills.

Ennis Elevated

Newly crowned WBA champion Ennis has been elevated to WBA Super Champion at 147 today by the World Boxing Association. Boots (35-0, 30 KOs) must defend his title against his WBA mandatory Giyasov within 120 days of having captured the title from Eimantas Stanionis on April 12th.

“Ennis is now mandated to defend his Super Championship against Shakhram Giyasov — the division’s official mandatory challenger,” per the WBA website. “Per WBA rules, Ennis must face Giyasov within 120 days of his April 12 victory over Stanionis. The winner of Ennis vs. Giyasov will be required to face the winner of Garcia vs. Romero.”