Ryan Garcia gave Rolando Romero credit for his power.

The heavily favored Garcia isn’t impressed with Romero’s skill level, however, and doesn’t consider “Rolly” the same fighter he was before Romero lost to Gervonta Davis. Baltimore’s Davis technically knocked out Romero in the sixth round of their 12-round WBA lightweight title fight in May 2022 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The destructive Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) is the only opponent who has beaten Garcia as a pro, yet Garcia believes he came back from that seventh-round knockout defeat stronger than how Romero responded from his loss to Davis. Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs, 1 NC) also said he intends to send the 29-year-old Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) into retirement when they meet May 2 in New York’s Times Square.

“He’s a strong fighter,” Garcia told DAZN’s Todd Grisham during a roundtable discussion that premiered on .

“You know, he has power in his hands, so I gotta be sharp the whole way through. And, you know, you can’t take nobody lightly. I don’t. I think that his fights after Tank, I kinda see, you know, he doesn’t seem the same to me, like I told him in the face off. But he’s gonna have to prove [to] me different. And we’ll see.”

Romero led Davis on one scorecard when Davis drilled him with a counter left on the inside that sent Romero face first into the ropes, then to the canvas.

The previously undefeated Romero got up from that devastating shot. Referee David Fields still stopped their bout because Romero was disoriented and didn’t follow his commands adequately.

Hard-hitting Venezuelan southpaw Ismael Barroso dropped Romero in the third round of Romero’s following fight almost a year later. Ten months after Romero recovered and stopped Barroso (then 24-3-2, 22 KOs) in controversial fashion in the ninth round, Mexican slugger Isaac Cruz (then 26-2-1, 18 KOs) battered Romero on his way to an eighth-round technical knockout in March 2024 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas’ Romero unanimously outpointed Stockton, California’s Manuel Jaimes in a 10-rounder that represents Romero’s only action since Cruz overwhelmed him. Romero beat James (then 16-2-1, 11 KOs) by the same score, 99-91, on all three cards last September 14 at T-Mobile Arena.

Nonetheless, Garcia hasn’t seen the same hungry, resistant fighter he once noticed in Romero.

“I plan to retire Rolly after this fight, plan that he never steps into the ring again,” Garcia said. “I’ll put him to sleep, and then we go after Devin Haney. That’s what I plan to do.”

Garcia-Romero is the main event of The Ring’s “FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves” card that will be held outdoors in midtown Manhattan. DraftKings lists Garcia as a 9-1 favorite in advance of their 12-round welterweight bout.

Haney (31-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC), a former undisputed lightweight champ from Henderson, Nevada, and former WBC/WBO 140-pound champ Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs), of Avenal, California, are set to meet in the 12-round, 147-pound co-feature before Garcia and Romero square off. If Garcia and Haney win, they are contractually committed to a rematch sometime in October.

Brooklyn-born Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) will defend his Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles against Arnold Barboza Jr. (32-0, 11 KOs), of El Monte, California, in the second of four fights DAZN Pay-Per-View will exclusively offer May 2 for $59.99 individually or $89.99 when bundled with the DAZN Pay-Per-View event the next night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The May 3 show will feature Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs). The four-division champion will attempt to reunify all of boxing’s super middleweight titles when he encounters Cuba’s William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Alvarez’s Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO and Scull’s IBF 168-pound crowns.