‘Are you kidding me’ – the controversial victory that led Rolando Romero to a world title fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr prodigy Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis

On Saturday night, Rolando Romero will take on Gervonta Davis in a fight for the WBA 'regular' lightweight world title, but he came close to never making it here.

Romero has been somewhat fast-tracked through his career, as one of Premier Boxing Champions' brightest prospects.

6

Just 11 fights into his professional career and at only 24 years old, Romero was given the chance to fight for the WBA 'interim' lightweight world title against Jackson Marinez.

The Dominican Marinez was the more experienced fighter in terms of number of bouts and age, which showed in the ring as he seemed to expose the flaws of Romero.

Marinez boxed competently throughout making Romero miss, who had relied on his power to that point, knocking out all but one of his previous opponents.

The punch stats favoured Marinez, showing the Dominican out-landed Romero in terms of jabs and power punches, especially dominating the championship rounds.

6

As the final bell rung, it was clear that Marinez believed he had done enough to earn victory and so did the majority of those watching from ringside and around the world on Showtime.

This was until the judge's scorecards were read out.

115-113, 116-112 and 118-110 all in favour of Romero to the disbelief of Marinez and even the commentary team on Showtime, who said, "Wow, Rolando Romero getting the win, are you kidding me!

Most read in Boxing

Boxing schedule 2025: Results and dates including Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois 2

Brutal ringside footage shows Naoya Inoue getting dropped with vicious left hand

Anthony Joshua considering huge investment in EFL club as boxer reveals new details

Floyd Mayweather flaunts huge winning bet on Canelo Alvarez's lacklustre fight

6

6

6

6

"Oh my goodness, 118-110 for Romero, what were they watching!"

Romero has since redeemed himself with two knockout victories in a row that have earned him a lucrative fight with 'Tank' Davis, the prodigy of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

As for Marinez, his career never quite recovered from this loss, as he was knocked out in his next fight against Richard Commey in February last year and we have not seen him back in the ring since then.