Danny Romero
Giving the Man his Props

photos & text by cozzone

Boxing fans are an ugly crowd when they don’t get their way—when their heroes lose a fight or don’t fight the opponent they want them to fight.

Boxing writers are even worse. When there’s nothing good to write about, there’s always going to be something bad to report, especially in boxing. Hell, I guess that’s what sells newspapers. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Albuquerque is home to two major fighters: Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero. Not many cities are homes to world champion athletes, especially two who come from the same neighborhood. You’d think the two of them would be enshrined in their hometown.

Such is not always the case. Tapia’s “La Vida Loca” life hits the papers ten times as much as his boxing achievements; his depression, his past drug problems, him getting shot at by a crazy bastard on the road near Ruidoso, NM . . . .

Romero? They call him a “goody-goody” in New Mexico. I suppose, because he doesn’t have as dark a past as Tapia. But that’s only the beginning . . . Danny Romero (39-3-1), two-time world champion and current NABO SuperBantamweight title-holder, has been criticized since his 1997 loss to Johnny Tapia when he lost his IBF belt. He’s been attacked for not fighting tougher opponents; for turning down fights with Nestor Garza, Prince Hamed, and most recently, with Bones Adams. He’s even been criticized by the local press for defending Mike Tyson.

This Saturday, Danny Romero will be defending his NABO title against Jesse Miranda on the undercard of the much-publicized Kostya Tszyu-Julio Cesar Chavez fight in Phoenix, AZ. Definitely the underdog, Miranda (14-6) is making a comeback after taking off three years from boxing.

I caught up with Danny at The Hideout Gym before he hit the road to Phoenix for Saturday’s fight . . .

Chris Cozzone (CC): They say this guy, Miranda, you’re fighting next week is an easy fight for you. What’s your take on this guy?

Danny Romero (DR): I look at it like this: I take my opponents very seriously. Any guy I fight can be extremely dangerous. I’ve been in situations . . . I fought this one guy with 15 wins and 29 losses—and the guy busted my eye because I went in thinking it was gonna be easy, that I was gonna knock him on his ass and that would be that.

I’ll never go into a fight like that again. It doesn’t matter if the guys a world champ or if he’s a guy with a bad record. You just never know if the fight’s gonna be a good fight or a hard fight . . . or if the guy is gonna be someone you’ll have to figure out. That’s how I look at it.

CC: So this guy isn’t just an opponent? Another tomato can to keep yourself busy?

DR: No, no . . . he’s not just an opponent.

I remember how it was for me coming up, and fighting for my titles. I know it’s extremely important for him to be fighting me. Because if he wins this fight, he’s set. I understand that.

And I know if I mess up, if I look crappy, if I lose . . . it follows me the rest of my career. So, every fight is important. Extremely important. Most people don’t realize how important these kind of fights are. These type of fights can be more important than title fights. These kind of fights are the ones that make you or break you. Without these fights, there are no world title fights. You look bad in these fights, you’re done . . . they’ll be no fighting for a world title.

CC: You’ve been slammed for not taking the fight with Bones Adams—

DR: Which was just a week away from Saturday’s fight. What’d they expect me to do? Fight two weeks in a row? But they don’t mention shit like that in the papers. My fight with Miranda was already set. Who’s gonna take a fight one week later? That’s crazy.

CC: But do you want to fight Bones?

DR: Of course. I want to fight all the world champs. Those are the guys we’re going after. Those are our goals. But it has to be done the right way.

CC: What do you think about Andres Fernandez fighting Bones Adams? Does Fernandez have a chance? [NOTE: Andres Fernandez (15-0) is fighting Bones Adams on August 5 in Madison, WI. Fernandez is also from Albuquerque, NM.]

DR: I’ve never really seen Fernandez fight. From everything they told me about him, the fight probably won’t last past the fifth round. But you never know . . .

I mean, Bones is a good fighter. The man can fight—he proved it against Garza. We’ve known each other since amateurs. Bones can throw down, so you gotta give him his props. Absolutely.  

CC: What about giving Fernandez his props?

DR: Of course, of course . . . This is the part where a lot of people take it wrong.

See, the only people I respect are fighters . . . anybody who steps in that ring . . . it’s a big deal. It’s just that sometimes, there are levels. Some guys are NABF’s, others are NABO . . . and then there are world-class champions and then some guys are beyond even that—we all know who they are, all those bad-asses out there.

But Fernandez? This is the opportunity of his lifetime. If he can muster up and bring everything that he has into the ring? You never know what could happen. Boxing is not written, man. You never know with a fight. I’ve been in fights where it’s 100 to 1 and the 1 wins. So, hell no, don’t ever count anyone out.

CC: Comin’ back to you . . . everyone’s saying these days that Danny Romero is ducking fighters. What’s up with that?

DR: Y’know, what people don’t understand is . . . championship fights . . . title fights . . . the timing has to be right. I’ve been there twice now, been at the top of this game for a long time, and it’s not a situation where I need opportunities. Opportunities are always there. But right now, I’m taking it one step at a time.

The title fights will happen. But the most important thing for my career right now is to protect it—all the way around. You see my guys in here, they take care of me. Very few fighters have that. You got the DelaHoya’s, the Roy Jones camp . . . other than that, there are very few teams that work together and protect the fighter.

Ducking fighters? Hell, no. I’ve already proven myself by fighting the best out there. Everybody knows that. I’m proven . . . I’m a world class fighter. I ain’t ducking fighters. When I hear that, it don’t mean nothing, man. The guys who write that . . . they don’t know. You got to understand that this is a business. There are certain paths to take, and we want to take the right way. Ducking fights? I don’t think so. We fight in here every day, we train all night long. That’s a crock, everyone knows it’s a crock. If I was ducking fighters, and became world champion twice, somebody was doing their job damn good!

But it’s about business. You can’t separate business and sport.

Danny Romero, Sr (DR, Sr.): If Danny just wanted to fight and not make a living out of it, he would’ve stayed in the amateurs and fought every weekend.

DR: I got a thousand trophies already.

DR,Sr.: But that’s all they are. You can’t buy coffee with them. You see, what’s been happening with Danny’s career . . . The deals have not benefited Danny. Right now, we’re focusing on Danny’s career. See, Danny really hasn’t been given his props.

DR: No . . .

DR, Sr.: Everyone around here has lost focus. Those reporters have forgotten about Danny’s past: that he’s a two-time world champion; that he’s enshrined in the Boxing Hall of Fame . . . They forget about all that here . . .

We’re not seeking to have Danny patted on the back, but he has accomplished something. It’s gonna be damn hard to fill his shoes. Don’t get me wrong, New Mexico has damn good talent here, I’m not saying that. But they get off-track when it comes to Danny. They got promoters calling the media, saying Danny doesn’t want to fight this guy, or that that he’s afraid of some other guy. Like we’re gonna respond to it.

No, that’s not how it works. People ask Danny all the time, if he’d fight Mike Tyson. C’mon! Look at the size difference! But you get my point; even if he fought Mike Tyson tomorrow, they still wouldn’t be satisfied. That’s how the media is in New Mexico. They have lost focus on Danny’s career. We go anywhere else in the world, Danny is the man. Anywhere in the world. But not here.

And we’re not basing Danny’s career on what the media says. People do not understand what Danny and Johnny [Tapia] have had to go through, to become world champions. They’ll never understand it . . . because they will never go through it.

DR: I remember when I fought Harold Gray, a couple years ago. We were saying that we were moving up in weight and he was the one guy we wanted to fight. He was a real bad ass, and that was the one guy I wanted to fight. No one ever expected me to take the fight. When we took it, we knew what we could do. We blasted him out in two rounds. Everybody freaked out and they gave me a lot of props. 

Everywhere but here. Here, it was like I knocked out just another guy. That guy was the #1 Best. [1996: Danny knocked Gray out in the first round and won the IBF Jr. Lightweight title.]

DR, Sr: And like when we fought Bungu [1998: Danny lost a 12 Round decision to Bungu, who retained his IBF Super Bantamweight title.] . . . he was the top #1 guy. But Danny kicked his ass . . . we didn’t get the decision but Danny kicked his ass. You know what they said here? They said, ‘Danny can’t compete with those guys.’

DR: What was that all about?

DR, Sr: Danny is a two-time world champion, in two divisions. When he becomes a champion in the third division, he’s going to go into all the books with all these great fighters who’ve done that. You know what they’ll say over here? Oh well, he handpicked the guys . . .

CC: You think part of it is Tapia? That maybe New Mexico can’t have more than one great champion?

DR, Sr: No. Hell, they should’ve been even more proud of that. There’s not only one champ here, but two! Two world champs from basically the same neighborhood. You go to Mexico—a big country—and you only got one world champion: Ricardo Lopez. Know what I mean? But not here . . .

Johnny is a tremendous fighter, the best boxer—there’s no better boxer in the world than Johnny Tapia. But you think they give any respect? Hell, no! You know what they call him? They say, ‘Ah, he’s just an ex-drug addict.’ What the hell is that? And there ain’t nothing he’s gonna be able to do about that . . . just like Danny . . .

Mike Katz from New York came down here to interview Danny. He wrote, ‘Danny’s just a goody-goody guy.’ Now, what the hell does that mean? I’ve yet to see a good article done on Danny, except maybe that one that Flathead guy . . .

CC: Flat Top? Fightnews.com?

DR, Sr: Yeah. He did a good interview with Danny. But these other guys . . . like Wright from the Albuquerque Journal . . and Mike Katz . . . I know for sure those sonofabitches ain’t never been hit. They don’t understand.

CC: Do you want another world title?

DR: Absolutely.

CC: What’s your plan for getting there? Who’s next, after Miranda?

DR: My goal this year was to stay as busy as possible, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. The years of ’98 and ’99 weren’t busy enough. But this year, I’ve already had three fights. That’s my goal. Stay as busy as possible. Look into fighting another world championship, absolutely.

CC: What do you want out of boxing? Your props? More money?

DR: I want the respect that I have done the right thing . . . that I’ve set out to do what I’ve set out to do. Already, I’ve accomplished more than I’ve ever expected. That’s one thing I want out of boxing . . .

It’s so weird because boxing has given me something I can never, ever pay for, or ask for . . . imagine.   It’s already given back. The training that boxing gives fighters . . . young people, it gives them the discipline, gets them out of the streets and all out of all the crap. Keeps your mind fresh of all that street crap. That’s one thing I want out of boxing—have already gotten out of boxing.

CC: And that’s more important than being Danny Romero, World Champion?

DR: I’ve had so much hell with this celebrity thing . . . I appreciate it and all . . . but it became a little hard in some situations. Most people won’t understand. Celebrity status? I don’t need that. Of course I want to win my titles, and accomplish the goals I’ve set out to do  . . . but yeah, boxing’s already given me much more than that.

CC: What sucks about boxing?

DR, Sr: Boxing is a beautiful sport . . . we’ll never say nuthin’ bad about the sport. But people are right about the problems boxing has. Look at Mike Tyson . . . they created the baddest man on the planet.

CC: The media?

DR, Sr: That’s right. The media. Well, now he’s proving he’s the baddest man in the planet. He’ll kick your ass inside and outside and all that shit. Only now they can’t deal with it. Now they say he’s out of control . . . he was always like that! You can’t win.

CC: Only Tyson fit into the picture back then.

DR, Sr: Yep. They were putting him on the front cover of all these magazines: People, whatever . . . But you’ll see. Stick around long enough, Tyson will get his props, just like Danny will. We know he will. Eventually. Maybe 20 years from now. They’ll be saying, ‘Man, you remember that goody-goody kid? He stood for the right thing.’

It’s like what I told Jim Lamprey when they interviewed us, when Danny lost his title. They were trying to make a good guy and a bad guy. They were saying you can fall off a horse and get back on. I said, ‘Bullshit.’ It’s harder to stay up on that horse. Anyone can fall off and get back on. But to stay up there . . .

CC: The king of the hill can only fall off.

DR, Sr: These guys are crazy . . . and that’s why I'm so critical about it . . . but Danny is the man. He is the man. What world class champion are you gonna write about, in New Mexico? We have no pro franchises . . . Danny is the pro franchise here.

CC: What time frame do you have here? Before you climb back on the hill?

DR, Sr: Right now, we’re just biding our time. But he will become champion again—this year.

DR: (Nodding.) It’ll happen. 

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