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Ryan Garcia Vows To Redeem Himself if Rematch With Rolly Romero Materializes
Ring Magazine
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Keith Idec
Keith Idec
RingMagazine.com
Ryan Garcia Vows To Redeem Himself if Rematch With Rolly Romero Materializes
Ryan Garcia is convinced a rematch with Rolly Romero would unfold completely differently from how their fight went May 2 in New York.

Romero dropped Garcia with a left hook in the second round, took away Garcia’s vaunted left hook and upset him by unanimous decision in the main event of The Ring’s card at Times Square. Representatives for Manny Pacquiao have discussed fighting for Romero’s WBA welterweight title sometime early in 2026, but Garcia explained during the newest episode of “Inside The Ring” that his team is also in talks to secure an opportunity to redeem himself in a rematch.

“I’ve been chasing him down for my rematch,” Garcia said. “Alex Pereira lost his [UFC] fight with [Magomed Ankalaev]. I know it’s MMA, but guess what? He said he knew something about himself that if he gets his rematch, he’s gonna do the job. And that’s how I feel like — if I get my rematch, I’m gonna do the job how I was supposed to do the first time around.”

Co-host Max Kellerman jokingly asked Garcia if he would prepare properly for a second fight with Romero.




“I might train a little,” a laughing Garcia said. "There was just little other things that were happening. I was a little unhealthy. But guess what? If I come back, I know I’m gonna do a job.”

Kellerman mentioned how Romero neutralized Garcia’s left hook in a fight he won by scores of 118-109, 115-112 and 115-112.

“I just wasn’t sharp,” Garcia said to Kellerman, co-host Mike Coppinger and fellow panelist LeSean McCoy. “Even my left hook wasn’t sharp. Let me have a bad day.”

Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) was an 11-1 favorite to defeat Romero (17-2, 13 KOs), but he looked like a shell of himself in his first fight in more than a year. The Victorville, California, native underwent surgery to repair bone and ligament damage to his right hand three weeks after he lost to Romero.

Garcia, 27, credited Romero for his power and awkwardness. He still doesn’t think Romero would beat Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs), despite the Filipino superstar turning 47 before they might fight.




“For certain matchups he gives people hell,” Garcia said of Romero. “That’s it. Tank was having a hard time with him. Obviously, he had a challenge with him. So, it’s like certain people that are used to fighting, people that [are] conventional or even really good fighters, I can fight against. It’s sometimes, like in a certain matchup, [Romero’s style] gives people problems.

“Now, do I think that he has the style to give Pacquiao problems? I don’t think so, because Pacquiao, he’s kind of [one of] the guys that get in there anyways. He’s always gonna be pressuring you. He’s always gonna be looking for combinations. That’s not really me. I’m more of a sharpshooter. Can’t sharpshoot against somebody that fights weird. I don’t know what he’s doing half of the time. But I know what I should do. I’m not gonna say what.”

New episodes of “Inside The Ring” premiere on DAZN each Monday at 2 p.m. ET. The show later becomes available on The Ring’s YouTube channel each week.

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing


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