For all the criticisms that it received, one cannot deny how Rolando Romero‘s shock victory over Ryan Garcia lit up the Times Square ‘Fatal Fury.‘ Moving up a weight division, the former light welterweight titleholder knocked down Garcia in the second round before cruising to a comfortable unanimous win on the Riyadh Season card. The Las Vegas native is clearly basking in his newfound success.

Romero found himself in a tight spot after Isaac Cruz dethroned him brutally last year. So, on ‘The Danza Project‘s latest episode, Romero took the hosts through the fight that seems to have put his career back on track. Now, as it drew to a close, the unfiltered discussion took an interesting turn. Speaking about his intentions to fight the very best, the crème de la crème, Romero spilled the beans on Devin Haney‘s purported behavior when he held the lightweight championship.

Rolando Romero: When Devin Haney came with a fight

So when Danza stated, “You seem like you just want to go out; you want to fight the best,” Rolando Romero couldn’t disagree. “I always wanted to just sit down and fight the best,” he said. He’s hardly like others who go around calling out this or that person, only for the fights to never take place.

To cite an example, he picked the discussion between Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson that took place two years ago. The matchup caved in following disagreement over the purse split. Romero wondered. On one hand, you’re calling yourself the very best in boxing. But then you’re not agreeing to a fight purely because the money was not satisfactory. “Who’s ducking who if I have all the belts and you have nothing to offer me? Take your 25% and shut up, right or wrong? Right, but no, I want 50% or 40% or whatever he asked for. It doesn’t work like that; that’s why these fights aren’t being made,” he stated in a dig at Shakur Stevenson for not taking it because the split was only 25% in his favor.

Then he recalled how once, when he held the lightweight title (interim), he received an offer from Devin Haney. But it failed to take off because Haney ‘overpriced’ himself. “Even Devin, right when I had the belt, when I had the championship at 35, right? He tried; he literally called. He tried to make the fight with me and him, right? He wanted $8 million, and me get a 100k,” Romero recalled.

I’m not in that league

The revelation occurred when Danza checked for Romero’s views on whether it would benefit boxing if the fighters were mandatorily tasked to face each other. Especially on account of Dana White’s entry into the sport, the need warrants a fresh review. Rolando Romero remained noncommittal about the UFC president’s boxing venture. However, he shared, he can’t think of ever having had to go through such an instance.

“There are mandatories,” Romero highlighted before adding that fighters ‘duck’ because “they’re all under different promoters and people. They’ll sit around they’re like, “Oh well, I’ll just take step-aside money, right?” and they’ll go let somebody fight instead of them because they wanted to get an extra, I don’t know, 100,000 for not fighting.”

After having headlined three pay-per-views, he just wants to face the best. Instead of building an everlasting legacy by facing the best, there are a few who just want to chase money.

The remarks actually follow the swipes he hurled at Devin Haney following the Jose Ramirez fight. Speaking with TMZ Sport, Romero, while discussing the potential matchup with Haney, mentioned how Ryan Garcia drubbed him soundly last April.

What’s your take on Rolando Romero’s views on the Devin Haney matchup?