Rolando Romero wants to fight Manny Pacquiao next. The 29-year-old from Las Vegas just beat Ryan Garcia in Times Square, New York, to win the vacant WBA Regular Welterweight World Title.
Romero floored Garcia in the second round and went on to win by unanimous decision on May 2, 2025. It was an upset victory that USA Today called an "impressive display against 'King Ryan'".
After the fight, Romero, nicknamed "Rolly", set his sights on boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. In an interview with Sean Zittel, when asked about his next potential opponent, Romero simply stated:
"Rolly vs. Pacquiao."
Pacquiao, the 48-year-old Filipino boxing icon and eight-division world champion, has a fight scheduled in July against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. But Romero doesn't care about the outcome of that bout.
"No matter if he beats Barrios it's still Rolly vs. Pacquiao. How many losses does Pacquiao have? Oh that's another thing, Pacquiao's another one that don't give a f**k about losses and everyone keeps tuning in for him right? All that undefeated s**t, that don't mean s**t if you're not fighting nobody."
Romero's comments suggest he's interested in fighting Pacquiao regardless of the result against Barrios. He also pointed out that Pacquiao's popularity hasn't been affected by losses and criticized the emphasis on undefeated records in boxing.
Pacquiao's last professional fight was a loss to former WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas in 2021. Since then, he's had exhibition matches against Rukiya Anpo and DK Yoo.
Romero, the former WBA super-lightweight champion, has now added the WBA Regular Welterweight World Title to his collection. The next few months will show if his call-out of the boxing legend will lead to a fight with Pacquiao.
