Romero seems certain, though, that his rival would suffer a similar fate in a rematch to the outcome of their fight 15 months ago. Garcia was a 10-1 favorite, but the heavy-handed Romero dropped him in the second round and beat him on all three scorecards to win the WBA secondary 147-pound championship in the main event of The Ring’s card at Times Square in New York.

Romero, 30, hasn’t fought since he upset Garcia, who never activated the immediate rematch clause in his contract.

“What was he gonna do different?” Romero asked during an interview with The Ring. “Was he gonna box me? Was he gonna fight with me? What was he gonna do different?"

Romero is focused, of course, on a different fight this week in his hometown. He’ll make his first welterweight title defense against former two-division champ Teofimo Lopez on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

DAZN and Amazon’s Prime Video will offer the card headlined by Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) and Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs) on pay-per-view for $79.99 in the United States. Subscribers to DAZN’s Ultimate plan, which costs $49.99 in the U.S. and £24.99 in the UK, can view the Romero-Lopez card for no additional charge.

Romero, who was elevated to WBA champion a month after he defeated Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) because Jaron “Boots” Ennis vacated his title, isn’t sure whether the 4-1 favorite, will defeat England’s Conor Benn (25-1, 14 KOs) three weeks from now. Garcia will make his first defense of the WBC welterweight title he won from Mario Barrios six months ago. Paramount+ will stream in the U.S. and DAZN will offer in the UK and Ireland.

Garcia, 28, has mentioned a rematch as one of his top options for his following fight, but Romero doesn’t necessarily believe The Ring’s No. 5 welterweight contender.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We had the rematch clause and he didn’t fight [me again]. Ryan is the most wishy-washy fighter in boxing. I’m pretty sure everybody’s figured that out, right? Ryan Garcia says he’s gonna fight this dude, this dude, this dude, this dude and literally does nothing. I’m trying to figure out how many people Ryan Garcia has called out this year.

“How many people has he called out in the past five years that he actually winded up fighting? The dude is delusional. I don’t know what that dude’s on, but he has to be on something. … You’re asking me to answer a question about the most bipolar person in boxing. For all we know, he might still pull out of the fight with Conor Benn. We have no idea.”