Regis Prograis has expressed his belief that Rolando 'Rolly' Romero, the current WBA junior welterweight champion, is the worst modern world champion or as Prograis proclaimed 'the saddest champion.' Prograis, who put his WBC junior welterweight world title on the line against Devin Haney, on December 9th at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, went on Brian Custer's podcast, 'The Last Stand' to promote the fight, but inevitably took shots at Romero, who is currently out of action due to an injury.
The conversation started when Romero had taken shots at Prograis on social media, which Custer asked Prograis about.
“I will fight Rolly," said Prograis to Custer. "Rolly is the saddest champion in boxing right now. Rolly is the worst champion. I want big fights, but Rolly is a big fight. Listen, if we can fight Rolly, I’ll fight Rolly. He got a belt."
However, the future for Rolly Romero, a PBC fighter, appears uncertain as the network landscape changes. Showtime, which has been a prominent platform for PBC, is no longer broadcasting boxing events, with only a few Canelo Alvarez PPV fights scheduled for 2024. There are speculations that Al Haymon, the head of Premier Boxing Champions, may move his stable of fighters to Amazon Prime, which primarily focuses on PPV events. This potential shift could pose a challenge for Romero, given the perception that he may not be a PPV-level fighter.
He got [beat up and] dropped by that old [expletive] man [Ismael Barroso]," said Prograis. "That man was 60-something years old, and he got his [butt] whooped by that man. He got dropped, and they gave it to Rolly."
Prograis who is extremely confident heading into his fight with Devin Haney took time to roast Romero, who is a notorious troll on the internet. Romero hasn't fought since May 13, 2023, when he won the WBA junior welterweight world title. Since then, Romero has been injured and now, Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso will fight on the Ryan Garcia versus Oscar Duarte card on December 2nd for the interim WBA junior welterweight title given Romero's inactivity.
"I think Rolly is the worst champion right now," furthered Prograis. "I can’t say in history, but of the current champions, Rolly is the saddest champion right now in the whole world. That’s a record, bro. To say that you’re the saddest champion.”
It is clear that Prograis labels and proclaims Romero as the "worst champion" in boxing currently, emphasizing Romero's controversial win over the much older Ismael Barroso as evidence of his limited championship qualities, and traits that Prograis feels limits Romero at a world championship level. That said, Romero is quite a puncher and can turn a fight quickly based on his power. Will we see Prograis versus Romero, who knows?
First thing is first, Romero has to return to the ring, which is starting to take a bit longer than thought as his injury now seems to be lingering.
