Boxing
Amateur star Marco Romero wastes no time, turns professional for a month after winning the National Golden Gloves
Marco Romero punches during one of his amateur competitions. Photo: Sergio Segura
Marco Romero didn’t have much time to celebrate after crossing off the last item on his amateur boxing bucket list. Two days after winning the 2024 National Golden Gloves title on May 18 at 165 pounds, Romero returned to training for his professional debut.
Returning to the gym after a grueling tournament in which the 18-year-old fought five times in six days, during which he missed his high school graduation and had to receive his diploma in a special ceremony, is no compact feat. . But with his professional debut scheduled for Saturday, June 15 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine, there was no time to waste.
Romero will face veteran MMA boxer-turned-boxer Jonathan Gary (2-1) in a four-round super middleweight bout. It’s a relatively modest debut for a decorated national champion, but Romero says his father, Salvador Romero, helped him put it all into perspective.
“We came home and, as my dad says, you just have to look back at everything. From where I got to the amateurs, now I’m starting in the pros,” said Romero, who is from Olathe, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb of about 140,000 people.
“I just want to be as successful as I was in amateur competitions. That’s why we immediately started working quickly.”
Romero will probably find it easier to list the amateur tournaments he didn’t win than the ones he did win. In a career that began at the age of seven, Romero won the Junior Olympics three times, the National Silver Gloves six times, the U.S. National Qualifier five times and the U.S. Championship four times, the last of which was his first at the elite level
He has fought approximately 135 bouts, losing just five times, with his last defeat coming via split decision in the final of the 2019 National Junior Olympic Games. An amateur of his caliber would normally play for the U.S. national boxing team, travel the world and pursue a spot in the Olympics, but circumstances were up to him independent conditions prevented him from participating in international competitions.
Romero made the U.S. national team in March 2020 and was scheduled to travel to Bulgaria for the Emil Jechev Tournament, but the tournament was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, his competing weight of 165 pounds was eliminated from Olympic competition. At 5-foot-7, Romero said he was too substantial for the 156-pound weight class and too compact for the 176-pound weight class.
In addition, the minimum age for Olympic boxers was raised from 18 to 19, meaning Romero was simply not destined to compete in Paris.
“My first dream was to go to the Olympics and bring home a gold medal, but unfortunately 165 was not a qualifying weight class. When I found out about it, my dream was to become a professional. I’ve always said my biggest dream was to bring the World Series back to Kansas. Kansas isn’t really a boxing state, so my thing is to bring the world championships back to Kansas and inspire all the other kids in Kansas to keep boxing and put boxing on the map. So that one day Kansas can be seen as one of the boxing states,” said Romero, a Mexican-American whose father is from the Mexican state of Michoacán and whose mother Sendy is from Guanajuato.
Boxing, however, was not Romero’s first passion. At the age of six, he started playing soccer in recreational leagues, while his two-year-old brother pestered his father to take him to a boxing gym. Shortly thereafter, the two switched roles, and the brother now plays high school football.
For the past eight years, Romero has trained under John Brown, a nearly 60-year veteran of the boxing industry who is also his manager. Brown also trained former heavyweight contender Tommy Morrison at the peak of his career from 1988 to 1993 and guided Cam F. Awesome to international amateur success. Finding a sparring match is hard, considering Kansas is not a boxing hotbed and few boxers are willing to pay the expense of traveling there to spar.
Romero with his National Golden Gloves title belt and Golden Boy award as player of the tournament. Photo: Sendy Romero
Romero did get a good job at the gym before the National Golden Gloves when he joined up with Eric Priest, a middleweight prospect from Golden Boy Promotions who came from his Kansas gym during training camp in Los Angeles. Romero admits he will have to travel more to be able to work more sparring sessions.
Priest (13-0, 8 knockouts) says he has known Romero since Romero was nine years ancient and says what makes him a special fighter is his work ethic and grounded, humble mindset.
“He comes from a great family, has great morals and values. I can vouch for him both as a person and as a boxer. He really is a combination of a demanding puncher and a good boxer,” Priest said.
“Marco is swift, has great head movement and is very mature in his overall movement in the ring. Solid combinations. Marco fights to win, he understands that this is a hurting business.
Romero compares his style to that of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, although he also cites fellow Kansas natives-turned-boxing stars Victor Ortiz and Brandon Rios as role models growing up.
“I would describe myself as a pressure fighter who steps forward but is knowledgeable. I like to break people down, put forward pressure, hit the body, hit demanding punches, but I’m also good with my head movement and footwork,” Romero said.
Romero already has his second fight scheduled for July 26 in Atlantic City and says he plans to drop down to 154 pounds. He believes he will be able to boost his record to 5-0 before the end of the year and then test the substantial boxing markets.
“It’s all becoming surreal to me. “Hopefully next year I’ll sign with a good promotion like Top Rank, Golden Boy, Matchroom or something like that,” Romero said.
***
Saturday’s gala is promoted by Banner Promotions Arta Pelullo and Bobby Russo, owner of the Portland Boxing Club and national president of the Golden Gloves of America. The main hero of the gala will be bantamweight contender Dylan Price (18-0, 12 KO) in a ten-round fight with Ernesto Irias (15-9-1, 9 KO) and Kendrick Ball Jr. (22-1-) lightweight heavyweight 3, 13 KO) against Britton Norwood (13-5-1, 10 KO) in a ten-round fight and the professional debut of local favorite and last year’s Fresh England Golden Gloves champion Wade Faria in a four-round fight in the middleweight division.
The event will be the first boxing show at the Cross Insurance Arena since 1994, when Joey Gamache defended his WBA lightweight title against Orzubek Nazarov, when the facility was known as the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Tickets range from $35 to $153 and the event starts at 6:30 p.m
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