Rolando Romero defeats Ismael Barroso in a super lightweight boxing match on Saturday May 13, 2023 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Referee Tony Weeks gave Rolando Romero a present of inexplicably poor conduction in the ninth round of Romero’s WBA super lightweight title fight against Ismael Barroso at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on Saturday.
With Barroso clearly ahead on all three judges’ cards at the end of the eight rounds – Tim Cheatham had it 76-75, David Sutherland had it 77-74 and Steve Weisfeld had it 78-73 – Weeks made two serious mistakes in the ninth round .
The first mistake largely didn’t matter because of the second mistake. But Romero injured Barroso early in the ninth round and just as he was about to finish he pushed Barroso to the canvas. It was obvious that Barroso went down not from the force of the blow but from Romero’s blow, but Weeks called it a knockdown.
That might have been a factor if Weeks hadn’t made the second mistake.
Romero landed a right punch and Barroso cornered. Romero threw several punches, most of which Barroso avoided when Weeks stepped in and stopped him at 2:41.
The only corner punch that landed in that sequence was one from Barroso, but Weeks apparently didn’t see it. The stoppage made Romero the world champion, although there are few people on the planet other than his closest family members who would consider him a champion.
The 40-year-old Barroso, who was visibly tired, brought down Romero in the third round. It was mostly a mediocre fight with little significant or sustained action, but Barroso did what he had to do to win. According to Showtime, he outplayed Romero 57-40 and threw more shots, 297-230.
As expected, he was perplexed and angry at the referee’s intervention.
“I’m fine,” Barroso said. “I think it was an injustice to stop that fight. I got the best shots.”
WBA championships have extremely little value due to the way the WBA has administered them over the years, issuing multiple in a class, sanctioning fights between unworthy competitors, and more. But Romero’s new belt can only matter if the sanctioning body forces a rematch. It wasn’t a great fight so the promoters probably won’t be keen on putting it on again, but it’s the only fair way to make it up to you. And if Romero refuses the rematch, he should be stripped.
I’ve known Tony Weeks for at least 20 years and I know he’s a decent, honorable man, and I would trust him with anything that’s on my mind. Weeks has long been a top-notch referee and his work in 2005, which allowed the late great Diego Corrales to continue fighting after being dropped by Jose Luis Castillo in the 10th round of their epic fight in Las Vegas, was recognized widely praised.
Weeks deserved every bit of credit he got that night and he put up a near-perfect fight.
Likewise, he deserves every bit of scorn he receives this time around, having essentially bestowed Romero with a world title. That was as bad as it can get.