What to Know
- Super middleweight prospect Marco Romero of Kansas opens Saturday’s main card on “The Fight” airing on TNT Sports and DAZN Boxing from Las Vegas.
- Romero spent time training in Montreal for his bout with Uruguay’s Braulio Ferreira.
- The 20-year-old rising star took away lessons sparring with Christian Mbilli, Osleys Iglesias, and Wilkens Matthieu
Marco “El Tiburón” Romero found himself far from his home turf in Kansas during training camp for his upcoming fight on Saturday in Las Vegas. Like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” playing at the famous Las Vegas Sphere, Romero learned a lot training in Montreal with two current world champions and a third on the rise.
Romero (15-0, 13 KOs) faces Braulio Ferreira of Uruguay (8-3, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bout that opens the main card at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and airs exclusively in the United States on TNT, truTV, and DAZN.
Romero vs Ferreira will be contested at a 165-pound catchweight to support the WBC Super Welterweight Championship main event between defending champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora and mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribej.
Marco Romero Sparring With The World’s Best
Romero completed his second training camp Romero calls the experience “eye-opening” as he put in 40 rounds of sparring with top super middleweights including IBF World Champion Osleys “El Tornado” Iglesias of Cuba (16-0, 15 KOs), WBC World Champion Christian “Solide” Mbilli of Montreal via Cameroon (29-0-1, 24 KOs), NABA Champion Iman “The Destroyer” Khataev of Russia (13-1, 12 KOs), and Erik “BZO” Bazinyan of Armenia (32-1-1, 3 KOs).
All four fighters now train in Quebec and are signed with Eye of the Tiger Management in Montreal.
Iglesias is coming off a sensational seventh-round knockout win one week ago in Montreal over Oliver Zaren.
“Iglesias is an awesome guy who is the boogeyman of the super middleweight division,” said Romero. “He’s a Cuban dude, so it was easier to speak with him. He works super hard and has power in both hands, and he’s strong, long, and tall. He’s world champion for a reason.”
The current WBC champion is just two weeks away from his scheduled fight against former undisputed champion Canelo Álvarez in Riyadh (although the fight date is under pressure from unrest in the Middle East).
“Mbilli is super humble, and we talked less because he’s French. He’s a strong, powerful guy with speed. He’s a big guy and a good combination puncher. He’s going to give Canelo a war. It was an honor to share the ring with these world champions and hold my own.”
Observing World-Class Talent For Inspiration
Romero noted that he not only got in the ring with these world champions, but he also often spoke with them, observed the way they train and handle themselves, and learned their mindset.
“I had another great experience at training camp again in Montreal,” said Romero. “To be called back to work with two world champions shows that I’m getting close to being on their level. I’m even more motivated to get on that level.
“I’m always confident, but I’ll be even sharper, mentally prepared-wise, for this fight. My ring IQ and counter punching have improved, too. When I enter the ring on October 17, after having training camp in Montreal with 2 world champions, I’ll feel like Superman, and nobody can stop me.”
“What’s inspirational for me is Marco’s positive attitude about leaving town to get the sparring that he needs because there is no one within 400 miles of us that will spar with him,” said Romero’s manager and head trainer John Brown.
“As part of Marco’s never-ending boxing improvement program, we already have sparring lined up in Orlando shortly after this fight, and Marco is already excited about it.”
Marco Romero Building Record on Amateur Foundation
Marco is undefeated in 15 pro fights, with 13 stoppages, and has won all 36 rounds on the judges’ scorecards. A 23-time U.S. national champion, Romero had a rich amateur pedigree, backed by his remarkable 130-5 record. The gifted Mexican-American boxer hasn’t lost in more than seven years, since June 28, 2019.
“I want to thank Eye of the Tiger and Marc Ramsey for the opportunity once again to be in camp and be around the best who will help me during my boxing career. I’m more than grateful to have been in camp with two world champions and their hot prospects,” said Romero,
Boxing fans will be able to judge the outcome for themselves on Saturday, October 17 on DAZN Boxing and TNT Sports at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m PT.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
