NEW YORK – Rolando Romero finally feels he has found the right weight class.

You need not look any further, according to “Rolly,” than what happened Friday night in Times Square. Romero answered questions about his chin by taking hard-hitting Ryan Garcia’s power without budging, dropped him with a left hook of his own in the second round and gave him every reason to box more cautiously over the ensuing 10-plus rounds in the main event of The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” outdoor card.

Garcia, an 11-1 favorite in his first fight at the welterweight limit of 147, lost a unanimous decision to Romero, ruining his contracted rematch with rival Devin Haney.

Romero. 29, felt fresher and stronger against Garcia because the North Las Vegas native didn’t drain his body to get down to the junior welterweight limit of 140. His previous three fights were contested at that weight or slightly above it.

The first 15 fights of Romero’s career were mostly contracted at or near the lightweight maximum of 135. Romero partially attributed his two losses – technical knockouts against Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Isaac Cruz – to the grueling process of making lower weight limits.

“Both those fights I was completely weight drained,” Romero said following his career-changing victory over Garcia. “[For] Gervonta, I was completely weight drained. I’m sure you saw me. And then [at] 140, I clearly out-grew that weight division as well. When I was a 35-pounder, I shoulda been a 40-pounder. When I was a 40-pounder, I shoulda been a 47-pounder.”

Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) led Davis on one scorecard when the powerful southpaw from Baltimore, Md., blasted him with a counter left that sent him o to the canvas in the sixth round of their May 2022 fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A disoriented Romero reached his feet, but referee David Fields stopped their fight for Davis’ WBA lightweight title because Romero didn’t follow his commands adequately.

Mexico’s Cruz dominated throughout their fight for Romero’s WBA super lightweight title in March 2024 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Referee Thomas Taylor stopped the one-sided fight in the eighth round, when Cruz connected with various punishing punches as an overwhelmed Romero tried to cover up.

Romero’s losses to Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) and Cruz (27-3-1, 18 KOs) in two of his previous four fights were among the reasons he was such a big underdog against Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC). Garcia, of Victorville, California, had lost only to Davis by seventh-round knockout in April 2023 at T-Mobile Arena before Friday's upset.