Rolando Romero was among the quietest fighters on the dais.

That stood out in contrast not only with Romero’s normal ways, but also with his fellow boxers at an event last month to promote a May 2 tripleheader in New York City’s Times Square, As Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and others talked over each other and exchanged profane barbs, Romero gave short answers and largely looked like he’d prefer to be somewhere else. 

That was then. This is now. In an interview with FightHype, Romero let viewers know how he really feels. 

He began by trashing Shakur Stevenson’s fighting style, mocking the WBC lightweight titleholder by throwing short, soft punches at the air. Romero said that he derives enjoyment from dropping opponents with power punches and looking at them on the canvas “bleeding,” “squealing” and unable to “move at all.” And he went scorched earth on the resume of one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Terence Crawford.

Punctuating a rant about how the violence and matchmaking in UFC are superior to those in boxing, Romero declared: “I go after everyone. If there’s a fucking fight for me, I’m gonna go for it. But other fighters don’t think like that. Because they all want to chase money.”

About his own bravery, the former junior welterweight titleholder is not necessarily wrong. Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs), has taken on Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, clearly not scared by power punchers or intimidating nicknames, even if he did lose to both by stoppage. On May 2, he’ll fight Garcia, whose left hook could fell a tree – and who just served a one-year ban for testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug ostarine. 

When Romero’s interviewer gently pushed back on the notion that chasing money should be derided, he responded, “Honestly? I think they’ve overpaying all these motherfuckers. I’m for fighters getting paid. I’m not for fighters getting overpaid.”

Romero thinks a fighter’s worth should be dictated “by how many fans they bring in.” If Romero is ever in charge of boxing, weep for great fighters without immense fan bases. Skills in fact will not pay the bills. 

Had “Rolly” shown up to last month’s media event at his inflammatory best, the stage might have combusted from the sheer force of personality onstage.

Next Romero targeted Crawford: “They wanna hype up fucking Crawford more than anything. He didn’t fight nobody until he was 35-0 or some shit.” 

(By the time he was 35-0, Crawford had cleared out two weight classes and beaten six undefeated fighters, not counting the foe Crawford faced in his pro debut. Also, the notion that Crawford should be judged mostly for his career prior to 2021 and not for his more recent wins over Errol Spence, Shawn Porter and Israil Madrimov is bizarre.)

Romero criticized Crawford’s wins over Yuriorkis Gamboa and Spence, calling both “burnt out” and Spence “weight-drained.” He proceeded to nitpick a long list of Crawford’s wins at welterweight in a fashion that would have impressed the most vigorous of social media trolls. 

Don’t let that make you believe Romero has no respect for Crawford, though. 

After trashing Crawford’s win over Jose Benavidez Jnr – because Benavidez had been shot in the leg – Romero interjected to say, “Congrats to Crawford for coming back from getting shot in the head. That’s impressive.” Then he continued piling dirt on Crawford’s final-round KO of Benavidez, saying Benavidez won the first five rounds of the fight. (No individual judge gave Benavidez more than three rounds. In fact, the three judges together gave Benavidez a combined total of five rounds.)

Crawford’s next attempt to “fight somebody” will likely see him jump two weight divisions to challenge super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September.