NEW YORK – Rolando Romero was in a contemplative mood.

Usually quick with jokes, Romero wanted to talk this particular morning about the importance of therapy, almost as if he had sat down for a session with the woman he credits for helping him out of a devastating depression last year.

The popular boxer who answers to the nickname “Rolly” was 20-plus floors above the chaos of midtown Manhattan, there to talk about his high-profile fight against heavily favored rival Ryan Garcia on Friday night in nearby Times Square.

A reflective Romero was more interested in discussing how he plummeted in 2024 to the lowest point he’d reached in his 29 years on Earth.

Pay-per-view fights against Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz afforded Romero the financial freedom he had chased since childhood. The North Las Vegas native nevertheless learned the hard way that the old adage is indeed true – money cannot buy happiness.

“Last year was a really hard year for me,” Romero told The Ring. “It really started in like December 2023, where it became a really hard year for me. I was battling my own demons. I was chasing something and trying to become a better man to myself. And I feel like I kinda overwhelmed myself last year with all that stuff.”

Romero didn’t elaborate with details, but his knockout loss to Davis in May 2022 and the legal ordeal he overcame several months earlier, after a woman he knew accused him of sexual assault, compounded personal problems that weren’t resolved for many years. As much as Romero enjoyed being around his family and interacting with boxing fans at cards in Las Vegas, the former WBA super lightweight champion couldn’t help but feel his life was missing something.

A friend is a licensed therapist and helped him find a colleague she believed would be a perfect fit for Romero. It helped him emerge from a year that included a technical-knockout defeat to Cruz, who dominated Romero on his way to an eighth-round stoppage 13 months ago at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“She’s a great therapist,” Romero said. “We talked about a lotta stuff that I just grew up around and a bunch of things in my mind that I felt tend to be OK. You know? Regardless of everything, people are like, ‘Therapy makes you a p---y,’ and all that stuff. Nah, being able to admit that you have a problem makes you a f-----g man.”

His own growth made Romero more empathetic than ever toward the rival he will attempt to knock cold in the main event of The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” outdoor card.

Romero watched from afar as Garcia’s life beyond boxing spiraled out of control before and after his fight with Devin Haney a year ago at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The often-bizarre behavior Garcia exhibited at times during the promotion of his fight with Haney made his own handlers, fans, pundits and especially Haney wonder whether he was mentally fit for licensure last spring.

Garcia fought terrifically, though, and dropped Haney three times on his way to a 12-round majority decision win on April 20. What would’ve been a career-defining win was overturned because Garcia failed a performance-enhancing drug test for Ostarine.

The polarizing Garcia also was suspended for one year and fined $1.2 million for the traces of Ostarine that were found in his system. The Victorville, California, native had already surrendered a reported $1.5 million from his purse because he came in 3.2 pounds overweight for what was scheduled as a 12-round, 140-pound championship fight for Haney’s WBC super lightweight title.

Garcia believes his wakeup call came at a Beverly Hills hotel on June 8.

He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for causing approximately $15,000 in damage to his Waldorf Astoria suite. The charge against Garcia was later dropped.

Before he erupted during a press conference Wednesday night at Manhattan Center, a calmer, more mature Garcia was downright dull for much of this promotion.

Romero noticed Garcia “grew up a lot” since last year. When informed of Romero’s transformation through therapy, Garcia commended his opponent.

“A lotta boxers struggle with mental health,” Garcia told The Ring. “It’s an unspoken thing in boxing in general. We are going into the ring, hitting each other in the head. That takes a toll on you sometimes. So, I think that us, as boxers, it’s good that we care about each other, while keeping that competitive spirit.

“But me and him always kind of had a friendly rivalry in a way, busting jokes and whatnot. That’s why I said I don’t really feel any animosity towards him in any way. He’s a cool dude. I think that we’re gonna have a great fight. I’m gonna beat him, but I don’t have no animosity towards him.”

Romero remembers calling Garcia after he withdrew from a scheduled fight with Javier Fortuna in April 2021 to concentrate on his mental health.

A skeptical Romero recalled thinking Garcia was “bullsh---ing” when he first announced that he was taking a break from boxing. He eventually realized Garcia’s struggles were all too real.

“I remember I was on the track because I was getting ready to fight [Anthony] Yigit [in July 2021],” Romero said. “That’s when something hit me and it’s like, ‘This motherf---er is not bulls---ing.’ I remember I messaged him [on social media] and I was like, ‘Hey Ryan.’ And he was like, ‘What’s up?’ And I’m like, ‘What’s your number?’ And he thinks I’m gonna troll him, right? With all the f---ed up s--t I done to him, right? And I tell him straight up, some things in life are bigger than boxing. He gave me his number and we talked. He didn’t tell me anything that was going on or anything. But I could see into his eyes and I could see what was really going on. I knew what he had been through. I knew what he had saw.

“And at that moment, you see the dynamic change, truly, where it’s like, there’s no real beef. I had already become world champion because I had the interim [WBA lightweight] belt at the time. I was rated No. 1 in the world. I was already on track for a mega-fight [with Davis]. And at that moment, all the hate in my heart towards Ryan already left. And then, if you pay attention after that, right after that I started supporting him. Because I truly knew what had happened. I picked it up real quick. I know there are demons in all of us. I know what really goes on. And I’m telling you, you pay attention and it’s like who was the only one that supported Ryan through all the s--t? Of all the fighters – everyone made fun of him, all this stuff, but who was the one who sat down and supported him? Me.”

Leonard Ellerbe, the former CEO of Mayweather Promotions, was not surprised to learn Romero reached out to Garcia, who struggled with fame and relationship issues away from boxing.

“Rolly is by far the nicest fighter I’ve ever met,” Ellerbe, Romero’s former promoter, told The Ring. “We have a different kind of relationship. Still, to this day, Rolly always calls and checks on me. He’s the only person that’s ever done that. We’ve had some great conversations.”

Ellerbe helped Romero get out of the funk caused by his sixth-round, technical-knockout loss to Davis almost three years ago at Barclays Center.

His first professional loss occurred four months after the Henderson (Nevada) Police Department closed its investigation into the alleged sexual assault. Romero was not charged with any crime related to that allegation.

It did cause Mayweather Promotions to replace him late in October 2021 with Cruz as Davis’ opponent for a fight two months later at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Romero eventually got his shot at one of boxing’s biggest stars, yet he didn’t deal with the trauma and the stigma from being accused of a crime until he went to therapy.

“That right there was a lot of the stuff, too, that had been bothering me,” Romero said of the allegation. “Because in reality, I got robbed of my opportunity for no reason. But it happened. I’m just blessed to be in this position, where I’m at today.”

Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) attended fewer therapy sessions while he trained for this showdown with Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) in one of the world’s most iconic environments. He plans to start going regularly again after they fight for the WBA’s secondary “world” welterweight title in the last of five fights DAZN Pay-Per-View will distribute starting at 5 p.m. ET ($59.99 in the United States).

“Obviously everyone has unresolved issues from when they were young,” Romero said. “I went from nothing to a lot very quickly and that freaks a lotta people out. I don’t think anyone in the whole boxing world is doubting that I handled the fame very well. But that doesn’t mean that none of this stuff affects you. One day you’re over here trying to make a dollar. And then, the next day you’re well off and you still have the same PTSD as before and all this stuff. And you’re still in survival mode the whole time.

"Just coping with everything and all the changes, fame and all that stuff, it’s a lot. It does do a lot. You notice with a lot of fighters, too, that they’re completely different when they finally make it up to where we are.”