The resilient Romero, 30, barely spoke the entire time he attended that school. A severe speech impediment limited his ability to communicate and stunted his growth as a student.

“You couldn’t understand me,” Romero told The Ring. “It was gibberish. I had to take speech classes until I was 12. … I really couldn’t speak at all. It was insane. And now I don’t shut up.”

The WBA welterweight champion can’t believe sometimes how far he has come since those demoralizing days. Even after he taught himself to speak freely, Romero was an unmotivated student who ranked No. 312 out of a 314-member graduating class at Silverado High School.

As trite as it might sound, Romero will return to Park Elementary as one of its most unlikely success stories. In addition to speaking to students, he’ll provide backpacks, signed photos and tickets for his fight against Teofimo Lopez on August 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (DAZN Ultimate; DAZN Pay-Per-View).

“Just to be able to inspire the children,” Romero said, “because like I said, I shouldn’t be anywhere. I shouldn’t have any success in my life, on paper. How I grew up, where I grew up, I couldn’t speak, I got bullied, I was tiny.”

Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) applied comparable perseverance to his boxing career, which didn’t begin until he was 16, and only after he competed in judo for many years. His amateur boxing career was limited to 35 bouts, but he learned on the job as a professional.

He was promoted by Floyd Mayweather’s company and eventually secured a shot at one of the sport’s biggest stars, Gervonta Davis. Though he was winning on one scorecard through five rounds, Davis knocked him out in the sixth round of their WBA lightweight title fight in April 2022.

Completely counted out following a poor performance against Isaac Cruz in March 2024, Romero responded to that eighth-round knockout defeat by upsetting Ryan Garcia unanimously on points 15 months ago in the main event of The Ring’s card at Times Square in New York.

He’ll fight for the first time since his career-changing victory over Garcia when he opposes Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs). As another night nobody would’ve predicted for him 20 years ago nears, Romero expressed pride regarding overcoming obstacles that should’ve held him back.

“Success is defined by whoever in their own words,” Romero said. “But on paper, I do look more successful than everybody else [from school]. And a lotta people do agree.”

Despite Shakur Stevenson’s resistance to the idea, it increasingly seems as if he could wind up facing Jose Valenzuela next.

There are undoubtedly more meaningful, higher-profile fights for the four-division champion listed at No. 3 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list. But if a catchweight clash versus Devin Haney is indeed dead, as Stevenson suggested, matching him against Valenzuela is an easier, cheaper alternative for Zuffa Boxing so he can make his debut with his new promoter before the end of the year.

Gary Antuanne Russell (19-1, 17 KOs), of course, deserves the opportunity more than Valenzuela (16-3, 10 KOs) because he decisively defeated him 17 months ago and would present Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) with a chance to add the WBA 140-pound crown to his Ring and WBO belts. Valenzuela is nonetheless on Zuffa’s roster and viciously avenged his third-round knockout loss to Edwin De Los Santos by stopping the Dominican southpaw in the second round of their rematch June 28 in Las Vegas.

Based on Stevenson’s struggles against De Los Santos in November 2023, at least a somewhat reasonable case can be made for matching him against Valenzuela.

Jai Opetaia might find himself immersed in another sanctioning controversy after getting stripped of his IBF cruiserweight title late in March.

Noel Mikaelian, announced Tuesday as Opetaia’s opponent September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, owns the WBC cruiserweight crown. Armenia’s Mikaelian was oddly ordered, however, to defend his title next against WBA/WBO champ David Benavidez, whose team insists it reached an agreement with his promoter, Don King. Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) would meet Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KOs) in a title unification fight December 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

Unlike the IBF, the WBC is infamously loose with its rules. If it weren’t, Mikaelian would certainly be stripped of his belt based on the Mexico City-based sanctioning organization ordering him to face Benavidez on May 29.

You have to wonder whether the WBC would do that, though, because it will take a sizeable sanctioning fee from the main event that’ll immediately follow Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs) and Mikaelian in the co-feature — Ryan Garcia’s first defense of the WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn.

This is the same sanctioning body, mind you, that made Benn the mandatory challenger for its 147-pound title, even though he hasn’t competed within that division since April 2022. In other words, don’t try to make sense of anything the WBC does or president Mauricio Sulaiman’s subsequent justifications.

■ Given Zuffa Boxing’s very public dispute with the IBF and Opetaia four months ago, it’s well worth noting that the fledgling promotional company is positioning two of its marketable middleweights to fight for an IBF belt. If Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) defeats Italy’s Etinosa Oliha (22-0, 10 KOs) for the vacant 160-pound championship Saturday night at 3Arena in Dublin, the Irishman might face countryman Callum Walsh next in what would be a can’t-miss domestic event in their home country. Walsh (16-0, 11 KOs), the IBF’s No. 8 middleweight contender, is heavily favored to beat Brit Tyler Denny (21-4-3, 1 KO) on the McKenna-Oliha undercard. American Amari Jones (17-0, 15 KOs) became the IBF’s No. 1 middleweight contender by winning his last bout, but that might not stop McKenna-Walsh from happening next if both win Saturday night.

■ How have handicappers made Callum Simpson even a slight betting favorite over Troy Williamson in their rematch Saturday night? Williamson (22-4-1, 16 KOs) dropped Simpson (18-1, 13 KOs) four times in the 10th round, when he stopped him on December 20 at First Direct Arena in Leeds, England, also the site of the second bout. Simpson also suffered two knockdowns in his previous fight, one in the first round and another in the third, before he came back to beat Ivan Zucco by 10th-round TKO in June 2025.

■ Beyond maneuvering Keyshawn Davis into a WBO mandatory position he didn’t deserve and offering him a $3 million purse for challenging Haney, what else could promoter Top Rank have done to provide him with the type of opportunity he so vociferously sought?