Rolly Romero elevated by WBA, must fight Giyasov vs Catterall winner
Rolly Romero has been “elevated” by the WBA, and may have his next opponent decided soon
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 02: Rolly Romero poses for a photo after defeating Ryan Garcia in a WBA Welterweight title fight in Times Square on May 02, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images) | Getty Images The WBA have announced that they’ve “elevated” Rolly Romero to “super champion” status at welterweight, as it’s been long enough since their last declaration that they were going to stop having so many “champions” that they can just go back to doing things the way they prefer. Romero beat Ryan Garcia for the vacant WBA welterweight title in early May 2025, a little over a year ago, and has not defended the title once or fought since then.
To look at the situation at least fairly, Romero (17-2, 13 KO) has reportedly been in negotiations to fight Manny Pacquiao , claiming that Pacquiao and his team were never serious about a potential January 2026 bout, and more recently with WBC titleholder Devin Haney , which has been an extensive back-and-forth on social media between the sides. The 30-year-old Romero’s upset win over Garcia was a real shock to many, who had written Rolly off at higher levels after his stoppage losses to Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in 2022 and 2024, at lightweight and super lightweight. But he made the big fight chance at welterweight stick.
The WBA have also stated that Romero must face the winner of Saturday’s fight between Shakhram Giyasov and Jack Catterall . They will meet on the Usyk vs Rico undercard, a fight that is now for the WBA’s “regular” or “world” welterweight title, which is an absolutely nonsense thing and always has been. Especially in this instance, where the winner between Giyasov (17-0, 10 KO) and Catterall (32-2, 14 KO) must now face Romero within 180.
There’s really no reason this wouldn’t just be an “interim” title fight, but perhaps sanctioning fee percentages are higher for a “regular” title than an “interim” one. WBA nonsense aside, the overall ruling that the Giyasov vs Catterall winner will face Romero is basically fine.