Rolando Romero (USA) vs Ismael Barroso (Venezuela) | Boxing Fight Highlights

Roly Romero, 5 of his 12 knockouts have come in the opening 3 minutes. He promises to get off to an explosive start. Ismael Barroso, hey, he's won 4 in a row with 3 of those wins coming by way of KO again. This one not expected to go the distance as we begin round number 1. 1 by 4th round knockout against Fernando David Saucedo and again... Yeah, being with the wide stance that, you know, he overreaches sometimes. And susceptible to the counter, Astrovante David. Yes, and we're seeing something right now. Big hand and, you know, gets himself in trouble. Oh, there's a nice judo sweep. And he gets the opponent to be uncomfortable as well. Well, you know, I asked the question. Yeah, that is a good point. I ball him a lot more pressure from Barroso. But again, you got to give it to the fact that Romero is doing a good job of using the entire ring, jabbing. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Romero, 2 of 46, Barroso, 5 of 44. Now, Barroso is doing one thing that's dangerous. He's lunging with his left hand to the body. Credit, he's fought his, what, 3 fights, 4 fights so far. So, there's nothing new for him. Yeah, Romero fighting his 3rd consecutive. So, clearly, you know, the volume not there with him. But, and maybe he's thinking a power shot's going to change things. Although, he could be winning two rounds. There's a good left by Barroso. Barroso swinging and... Many people believe that Barroso's power... Anytime you're in a fight with a puncher, you know it's going to be difficult. And there it is, difficult. The left hand dropping Romero. 6, 7, 8. Come to me, come to me, come here, girl. Okay, here we go. The left hand cost him the fight against Gervonta Davis. And here in the dying stages of round 3, Barroso with the left, drops Romero for the 2nd time in his career. He's not too much going on. He's picking his shot. He's a heavy shot, heavy power puncher. That doesn't say it's not going to happen tonight. Again, lands the left hand. If you're smart, if you're Romero, you want to time that. There it is. Caught him walking in here, hurt him. Yep, he did. Caught him with the right hand. Lead left hook, right hand by Romero. Take a step back and counter. The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Explosive exchange right hand from Romero. Round so far where he threw 37 punches in round 4. By the way, Romero came in as a huge favorite. 8 to 1 the last time I checked. That was interesting. I was actually a little surprised at that. He's now the champion in recess. And there's a nice exchange. Yeah, obviously a lot of people going, you know... It's boxing, I guess. There's a nice left hand from Barroso. Whether Romero can counter him. He was a volume puncher. At age 40, he appears not to be that anymore. So, guess what? With this pace, he's probably going to like being a right hand by... Now, on his bicycle, retreating to close out round 5. That was a good right hand from Romero. Timing Barroso's beating him to the punch, really. And, you know, there hasn't been that much thrown and that much landed. But what there is, has benefited Barroso. There's a lead right uppercut. 2 minutes now. Left in the 6th. And again, Barroso goes to the body. Look at his foot placement right now. As a sophomore, you want to walk to the left. In the 3rd frame, the Romero went down from an overhand left to the nose. The 2nd time he's been down in his career. The 1st time, while he was stopped by Gervonta Davis in his last fight. Another left hand to the body. Devoid of combinations. How do you do that with your right hand? Keep him busy with your right hand. Try to control that. And Barroso has definitely taken this partisan crowd here in Las Vegas, Romero's backyard, out of this fight. Yeah, and the lack of volume from Romero. Another left hand by Barroso! This bout, I should say, has been anything but a battle for a vacant 140-pound title. Delivered. I thought his comments were apt. Hit him a little bit like they are to the body, and then surprise him with the left hand. Because the left to the body kind of helped set up that left to the head. Going into the 2nd half of the fight. Starting from Romero, how do you not counterpunch that slow left? It's a 1-2. 1-2 that Barroso's doing constantly. How do you not counter that? That's one adjustment. If he could pick up the rhythm a little bit more, but I don't think that would work for him. Then he worked the body and worked the head. He's not doing that. He's lunging with his left hand in this fight. Capabilities. This is the kind of pace that Barroso would like the entire fight. Yes. Keeping his right to the outside of Romero, and setting him up for that left hand. There was that left hook again. As we head to round number 8. Not able to really put together a lot of sustained action. Barroso's opened up a 4-point lead on our unofficial scorer, Steve Farhutz. We asked if he could bring that vaunted power up to 140. If those scores are any indication, he's going to have to try to rely on his power. Landed the right, but then got countered by Barroso. At a lesser skill set than even Barroso, who, you know, let's face it, Romero got a little bit of a break. Barroso is a quality fighter. Yes, and it was back in April of 2019, a few years back, that Romero produced one of the year's most spectacular knockouts against Andres Figueroa. But it's like you mentioned, Al, now... He's the one with the constant pressure, Barroso. Yeah, he remains on the hunt. He might be stealing these rounds just because of that, and obviously those... Minute left, and really in this round, Roly Romero's been retreating. And the lefts to the body will open up another left to the head at some point, if Barroso doesn't get countered by a right. And he's hearing it from some of the crowd. Now he fires his feet, while Barroso trying to cut him off, trying to stop him, trying to slow him down. As Al Bernstein has put it so well so many times, the Romero invitational track record in this round. I love it, I love it. There's a left again to the body. The left hands of Barroso continue to score to the body, and another left lands. Non-official scorecard shows Barroso still maintaining that four-point... Or make it now, it's five-point edge over Romero. Wow! That was a nice right hand from Romero. But just one. Yeah, I mean, if you're Romero, I mean, he talked about... Oh, and he gets countered again, knocked off balance with the left of Barroso. Oh. And now, now it's Romero sitting down on his punches. Ooh, that could have been a knockdown. And it has been ruled a knockdown, despite it looking like a push. Barroso was hit at a certain point. Yes, he was, and he goes down for the fifth time in his career. High drama now here in Las Vegas. Round number nine. Romero went down in the third. Barroso goes down here in the ninth. And Romero's sitting down on his shots, landing the left and the thudding right. Barroso trying to hang on. And for a moment there, it was as literal as it was figurative. A minute left in the ninth. Romero putting on the pressure. Lands a straight right, misses with a sweeping right hook. And Barroso replying with chopping shots. See, this is the pace that Barroso doesn't like. High volume, constant on him. Like, you know, he's the older fighter. He doesn't like this. Thirty seconds left in the ninth. That lead right has been effective for Romero. Barroso comes back with a right, and they are just... My goodness. Weeks, and I gotta say it, a week's stoppage here tonight. Wow. Just sucking the... Well, the partisan crowd, they're jubilant, they're ecstatic. Oh, mamma mia.