Spotlight on one of our local favorites: Danny Roman

Roman fans should be both excited and perhaps a bit on edge after learning the news the 5’5″ tall Roman signed for a unification bout with T. J. Doheny, a southpaw, to contest both Roman’s WBA and Doheny’s IBF Super-Bantamweight (118-122 lbs.) World Titles at this show on Friday, April 26, a show that will air live on DAZN throughout the US and on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. Roman (26-2-1, 10 KOs) and Doheny (21-0-15 KOs) will be in a unification bout that will no doubt thrill all fans.

Roman, the 28-year-old “Baby Faced Assassin”, trained by one of the best trainers in the sport, Eddie Gonzalez, has been considered the real deal ever since that May 29, 2015 fight, when he out boxed San Diego’s, 5’7″ tall Christopher Martin (28-5-3) to win a wide decision victory at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario, Calif. He then plowed through the next seven opponents on his way to meeting up with Shun Kubo in Kyoto, Japan to win the WBA Title. Next came the defenses of his crown to even more formidable opponents like Ryo Matsumoto the following February, followed by his defeat of Moises Flores in Frisco, Texas in June.

His final victory came in October, over Gavin McDonnell (20-1-2 in Chicago). Roman stopped the much taller Brit in the 10th round of their 12 rounder on the first American boxing bill to air live on DAZN in October.

Now we see Roman is making this appearance in April against an undefeated gentleman from down under, southpaw Terrence John Doheny, T. J. (21-0, 15 KOs), the IBF titleholder, who is from Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia. Oh, and should we mention gain, he is a southpaw! To his credit, Doheny’s path almost mirrors that of Roman’s. The Australian-based Irishman traveled to Japan to land his first World title where he took the strap away from Ryosuke Iwasa in Tokyo on August 16, 2018. The unbeaten 32-year-old then signed a promotional contract with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA in January and shortly after made his first defense in New York against Ryohei Takahashi, stopping the Japanese gentleman in the 11th round at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden with Roman in attendance to watch.

Do you see all the pieces falling into place. Matchroom, under the guidance of Eddie Hearn, is quite a mover and a shaker. Hearn now pulls the strings for 1) the unified heavyweight world titleholder Anthony Joshua, 2) the undisputed cruiserweight world champion and consensus 2018 fighter of the year Oleksandr Usyk and he also has the former welterweight world titlist Kell Brook, under contract.

To quote Danny Roman, who is also on the right page: “This is the biggest and most important fight of my career. I haven’t been shy about wanting to unify the division. This is the fight I’ve been asking for since I became a World Champion (fighting against a southpaw?). I need to deliver on my goal of becoming the best and a win against another World Champion puts me in that conversation. It will be a new experience for me (fighting against a southpaw?) because I’m not fighting a challenger, I’m fighting another belt holder. It’s exciting in a lot of ways. I’ll be at my best because I’m planning to add another title on April 26. It will feel great to fight in front of my hometown fans. My last five fights have been away from home. I know I have a job to do. Nothing is easy at this point. It’s going to be one a heck of a fight.”

D. J. Doheny: “We met in the ring after my fight in New York at Madison Square Garden, and there was a lot of respect for each other. That’s the way it should be. We’re two World class fighters, two World Champions in the same division. A fight like this doesn’t need any false hype, I think that when you have two World class fighters like this, that’s enough of a selling point for a high-caliber fight. Danny’s a great fighter and adds a lot of pressure. He’s not only a great puncher, he has a great punch selection. He’s got it all. It’s going to be a great fight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the fans got to see a bit of a war. Fighting Danny in his home city (Inglewood, California), that doesn’t bother me. I’ve been fighting on the road my whole career, so it will be no different for me. It’s me and him in the ring, and it’s going to be all action.”

With the way they’re going, this fight card might just turn out to be one of the most extraordinary ever. With the best Super Flyweight of our day: Wisaksil Wangek (47-4-1, 41 KOs), super featherweight standout Scott Quigg (35-2-2), light heavyweight Anthony Sims Jr. (18-0) plus they added welterweight favorite Jessie Vargas.