Ryan Garcia self-reported an operation on his hand today, posting this on Twitter: "I went and got the surgery for my hand and what I needed to get done, I never used that as an excuse for my fight [a loss to former 140-pound title holder Rolly Romero earlier this month].  The media is going to report the surgery. I’m just blessed it was done and successful. Thank you to all for the love and support from the community and people who have been supporting me in my career love yall."

 

Romero won the WBA regular welterweight title when he knocked down and upset a seemingly gun-shy Garcia in New York City's Times Square on May 3rd. A Romero double left hook landed flush on the chin and dropped Garcia in round two. Garcia got up and did not seem particularly hurt, but his performance became more passive with every round. Romero, a former 140-pound titlist but generally lightly regarded until today, was content to fight at a slow pace but he clearly landed the harder shots  The strategy paid off as Garcia did not press the action despite between-round pleas from his trainer, Derrick James. The official scores for this welterweight fight were 115-112 (twice) and 118-109 all in favor of Romero. According to Compubox, Garcia outlanded Romero by a dismal 66-57 count. However, Garcia applauded the verdict and conceded Romero deserved the victory. The most telling statistic was that the 490 combined punches thrown total was the third lowest in a twelve-round fight in CompuBox's forty-year history, below even the 503 combined punches from Devin Haney and Juan Carlos Ramirez earlier in the evening. Romero's upset threw Turki Alalshikh's plans for a Garcia-Haney rematch into question.