Garcia Vs Rolly, Haney Vs Ramirez, Bakole Vs Ajagba: Triple-Header In Times Square

Turki Al-Sheikh has just announced that Ryan Garcia will fight former WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, Devin Haney faces Jose Ramirez, and Martin Bakole battles Efe Ajagba on the same card in May. This is expected to be shown on PPV from Times Square in New York.

Triple-Header Fights

• Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando Romero
• Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez
• Martin Bakole vs. Efe Ajagba

Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) has been given the tough fight, going up against WBA and WBO former light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs). I wonder if this was Bill Haney’s bright idea to match Devin against this guy. He could live to regret taking this fight.

Rolly Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) is a surprise for Ryan’s opponent because Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz had been the name that he was rumored to be fighting. Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout reports that a “No financial agreement” could be reached with Isaac Cruz; hence, Rolly was recruited as the opponent for Ryan Garcia.

Cruz knocked out Rolly in the eighth round last year on March 30th in a title mismatch. For Ryan to be fighting Rolly, it suggests that he doesn’t want to take any risks of losing with him coming off his long 13-month layoff.

“Unfortunately for ‘Pitbull’ Cruz there was no financial agreement. Rolly Romero stepped in. The promotion for the fight in May is going to be good. We are waiting for details about Times Square or the arena where the battle will take place… 🥊🥊🥊” said Salvador Rodriguez on X, explaining why Isaac Cruz wasn’t used as Ryan Garcia’s opponent.

That was a fight fans would have gotten excited about, but there would have been a lot of risk for Garcia because Cruz could actually fight. Rolly has two out of his last four fights, and some feel he would have lost a third if not for a strange stoppage in his clash against Ismael Barroso in May 2023.

That was where the referee stopped the fight out of the blue after Rolly threw a flurry of punches, with all of them hitting the air. He then raises Rolly’s hand in the air, giving him a knockout win, leaving Barroso standing there like, ‘What is going on here.’ That was so weird. The referee looked like he’d flown in on a flying saucer from a distant world, seeing a fight, ‘Oh, let me stop it.’

Interestingly, no rematch was given to Barroso, which made it look even worse for Rolly. There should have been one, because that was so utterly bad. You had to feel sorry for Barroso because he’s not young, and it was sad to see him get treated like that.

The Ring Magazine is excited to announce its first boxing card in USA this May 2025 in collaboration with the video game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (which the card will be named after) and SNK Games.

The card includes three fights:

Ryan Garcia vs Rolando Romero
Devin Haney… pic.twitter.com/hJVEMd91z7

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 20, 2025