Much of the discussion surrounding Albert Batyrgaziev’s WBA 130-pound interim title defense against Neri Romero was about what could have been, and what was to come next. It turned out that Batyrgaziev had quite the hurdle to clear before he could reminisce or look ahead.

Batyrgaziev-Romero essentially took place because of a WBA ruling that allowed Lamont Roach Jr., the full WBA champion in the division, “special permission” to move up to 135 pounds in order to challenge Gervonta Davis last weekend. According to Dan Rafael, the provisions were that in the event that Roach won the bout, he would have five days to decide whether he was staying at 130 or moving to 135, or in the event of a loss, 120 days to face his mandatory challenger Batyrgaziev.

"Lamont Roach signed a contract to fight Gervonta Davis, so we had to wait, that’s why we decided to defend the interim belt, so we can secure a shot at the full title later. Regarding the Roach vs. Davis fight, there wasn’t much action. No truly good boxing on display. But Roach did well, showing plenty of spirit. It seemed Davis didn’t really prepare, and that affected the outcome," said Batyrgaziev during fight week.

However, it almost wasn’t Batyrgaziev who had to worry about potentially scheduling a bout with Roach.

The 2020 Olympic gold medalist at featherweight survived two knockdowns to score a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Romero on Saturday at the Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow in a bout that was also contested for the IBA’s internal 130-pound title as well. The scores were indicative of the kind of wild, topsy-turvy affair that unfolded in the ring, with Batyrgaziev getting the nod on cards of 115-109, 116-108 and 114-110.

Overall, it was a brutal, physical fight with very few extended breaks in action. By and large, Batyrgaziev’s cleaner, more fundamentally sound shots thrown in greater volume got the better of the action, but the Russian contender found himself in danger at several points in the fight. In the third round, with the bout seeming to settle into a rhythm that Batyrgaziev could maintain all night long, Romero dropped him with a cuffing left hook. Not long after, with Batyrgaziev seemingly recovered, Romero dropped him a second time with a straight right hand.

The Russian favorite Batyrgaziev stood his ground and fought his way out of danger, but came out a little too motivated to avenge his disastrous previous round in the fourth. In the opening seconds of the round, he buzzed Romero with a straight left hand, and a combination of Romero’s weariness and entanglement sent him to the canvas. In other circumstances, an official might have ruled it a knockdown, but instead, with Romero prone on the ground in the corner, Batyrgaziev landed a left hand that prompted an immediate point deduction from the referee. After another minute of back-and-forth action, a near-identical sequence unfolded, with Romero toppling to the canvas after getting buzzed and trying to hold on. It was once again not ruled a knockdown, but Batyrgaziev this time showed restraint, and instead waited until Romero was back on his feet to drop him with a cuffing hook nearly seconds later.

After the fight, Batyrgaziev dismissed the knockdowns he suffered as being “a fluke.”

“I won’t make excuses—this is boxing, anything can happen. Every punch can be the last one,” he said.

After the fourth round, the bout settled into a less chaotic pattern at least in terms of knockdowns and momentum swings. Both men found themselves buzzed again more than once, with Batyrgaziev getting rattled in the ninth, and Romero seemingly out of sorts in the final 30 seconds of the bout. In a capsule, Batyrgaziev’s work was tidier and more consistent, but Romero’s brute physicality and barrages produced the moments that appeared closest to ending the fight. The 116-108 scorecard felt out of touch with the tenor of the bout, but 114-110 appeared to be a fair evaluation of a tremendous contest.

“This was the most emotional fight of my career,” said Batyrgaziev, the Ring’s No. 8-rated junior lightweight. “I want to thank my opponent—Romero showed the beauty of boxing and great character. Praise be to the Almighty, we were better prepared today. I think I didn’t disappoint anyone. The team is happy, but there is always room for improvement. We will keep working.”

Given the drama and excitement of the bout, there were instant questions about a potential rematch with Romero.

“We’ll come back to that later. If there is interest, we’ll do a rematch. But my main plan was to fight for the full WBA title against Lamont Roach,” said Batyrgaziev. “Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out yet—he recently fought Gervonta Davis. We’ll see what happens next. We need to negotiate. If we give him time, he will probably do a rematch with Davis. If we don’t, then he has to defend the belt against me or vacate it.”