Boxing has been on a bit of a hot streak lately with a number of amazing fights going down over the past two years. But this past weekend’s Fatal Fury double-header was a reminder that boxing doesn’t always deliver, and what it doesn’t it is pretty dreadful to watch.
From Times Square to Riyadh, Fatal Fury fights from Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, and Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez now hold No.1, No. 4, and No. 6 in the ignominious ‘Least punches thrown in a 12 round fight’ list. That’s historically bad — these are some of the worst fights in the 40 years since Compubox started tracking stats!
According to Rolly Romero, it’s because the top fighters in boxing are getting paid too damn much, and the sport needs a little bit of UFC pay prudence to get things back on track.
Rolly Romero called out promoters for paying boxers too much money
“It’s sad, it’s really messing up the sport. You gotta do it like the UFC does.”
(via @FightHubTV) pic.twitter.com/Lr8hFHi1LU
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) May 8, 2025
“Look, it comes down to this, and this is coming from a fighter: you guys shouldn’t be overpaying fighters because then it makes them not wanna actually perform,” he told FightHubTV. “Especially when you have fights lined up for your next fight and all that stuff.”
“It’s sad because it’s taking away [from the fights]. ‘All I gotta do is f—king survive this fight for the next paycheck.’ And it’s been going on for a very long time, and it is really messing up the sport.”
“You guys gotta do it like the UFC does,” Rolly added. “Like, you do a s—t performance? F—k y’all. Y’all ain’t getting no damn money. It’s taking away the hunger of these fighters where it’s like, well, they got a guaranteed check next. That’s why all these motherf—kers keep protecting their O. ‘Oh, I’m undefeated. I’m undefeated.’”
“Look, I have two losses. Both my losses come from big fights, but it’s never derailed anything. I’m still here. They can’t take me away. I keep coming back. Y’all think I’m gone? I come back again and again and again, but that’s because I have balls, and I keep f—king going after what the hell I want.”
Does Rolly really want boxing to be more like UFC when it comes to pay? He just earned a reported $5.5 million to fight Ryan Garcia, who banked a flat fee of $20 million for the Times Square fight. In the UFC, there’s a very small handful of fighters making over a million dollars per fight, and someone with Rolly’s resume would not be one of them.
If there’s anything that seems to draw meh performances from top stars in boxing, it’s bad matchmaking. When you put boxers in a fight that doesn’t matter just to set up a fight that does matter, don’t be surprised when they provide an uninspired performance.
But we’ll get to find out how UFC pay incentivizes young boxers when parent company TKO debuts its new boxing league later this year.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
