Romero Controversially TKOs Barroso; Sims Nips Akhmedov in a Barnburner

Las Vegas, NV — Rolly Romero may have set some sort of record tonight, becoming the first boxer to win a world title in his first fight in a new weight division while coming off a loss. In his first test at 140, Romero rebounded from his harsh defeat at the hands of world lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis to stop grizzled Ismael Barroso in the ninth round.

Barroso, a 40-something Venezuelan, now based in Miami, filled the breach when Romero’s original opponent Alberto Puello flunked his VADA test. The onerous World Boxing Association, in its infinite wisdom, then declared Puello “champion in recess” awaiting the result of his “B” sample and elevated this match to a “regular’ world title fight.

As expected, Romero, a 27-year-old North Las Vegas native, is the new WBA 140-pound title-holder, but warhorse Barroso didn’t go quietly. To the contrary, he was ahead on all three scorecards when referee Tony Weeks pulled the plug.

Through the first seven rounds, Romero rarely threw more than one punch at a time. Meanwhile, Barroso repeatedly found a home for his straight left to the body. One of those lefts began a sequence of punches in round three that put Romero on the canvas and at the midpoint of the fight it appeared that a big upset was brewing. But Romero found his range in round nine, putting Barroso down with a chopping right hand and later in the round, with Barroso pinned against the ropes and Romero swarming all over him but throwing more than he was landing, referee Tony Weeks waived the fight off with a gesture that struck most in attendance as premature.

The official time was 1:42 of round nine. The 27-year-old Romero, a North Las Vegas native, improved his ledger to 15-1 (13 KOs). Ismael Barroso, who won legions of new fans at his advanced age, falls to 24-4-2.

Co-Feature

In the 10-round co-feature, Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy won an unpopular majority decision over Omar Juarez. Barthelemy, a former world title-holder at 130 and 135 pounds, had a significant advantage in height and reach – not to mention pedigree – but he did more posing than fighting. The view from here is that Barthelemy (30-2-1) got out-worked by the hard-trying Juarez (14-2), but two of the judges thought otherwise, scoring it 98-92 and 97-93 for the Cuban transplant.

Also

The opening bout of the main TV portion of the card shaped up as the best fight of the evening and more than fulfilled that expectation. There was scarcely a dull moment as Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr threw punches in bunches for the full 12 rounds. Sims spent most of the early portion of the match fighting off his back foot, but he got the better of the late action and prevailed on a majority decision that was popular with the pro-Sims crowd. The judges had it 116-112, 115-113, and 114-114.

It was the eighth straight victory for Sims (20-2-1), a 29-year-old Chicagoan who fell to the canvas in a fit of rapture when the decision was announced. And it was another tough loss for Akhmedov, a 32-year-old former Olympian who has been competitive in all three of his defeats.

Other Bouts of Note

In a curious match-up considering the locale, two fighters from the Dominican Republic, Esteuri Suero and Starling Castillo, locked horns in a 10-round affair. It was an inelegant scuffle in which the previously undefeated Suero, 12-0 heading in, had two points deducted by referee Celestino Ruiz for general roughhousing.

Castillo (18-1-1) did his best work in the final round and emerged victorious by scores of 94-93  and 95-92 twice. The decision, although unanimous, was somewhat controversial.

In an 8-round featherweight affair, Michael Angeletti improved to 8-0 (7) with a last-round TKO over feisty but outclassed Michel Banquez. The official time was 1:15 of round 8.

Angeletti, akin to Regis Prograis, is native of New Orleans who was uprooted to the Houston area by Hurricane Katrina. A former national amateur champion, Angeletti sells real estate in Spring, Texas, when he isn’t in the gym. It was the third straight loss for Venezuela’s Banquez (20-4).

Photos credit: Esther Lin / SHOWTIME

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