{"id":551886,"date":"2026-03-21T20:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551886\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:50:08","slug":"roy-jones-jr-named-rolly-romera-a-knock-off-prince-naseem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551886\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Jones Jr named Rolly Romera a knock off Prince Naseem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roy Jones Jr<\/a>, the former four-weight world boxing<\/a> champion and Hall of Famer, has branded WBA champion Rolando Romero a \u201cknock-off version\u201d of Prince Naseem<\/a> Hamed while weighing up how dangerous Romero could be if he lands early in a potential fight with Devin Haney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Fight Hub TV, in comments reported by Boxing News, Jones said the comparison was about Romero\u2019s unusual timing and one-punch threat, not his r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told people the same thing when he fought Ryan, I told guys that you got to look at it like this, Rolly is a lot lesser version, a knock-off version, of Prince Naseem Hamed,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he hits you, you\u2019ll know that you have been hit because he has got unusual punching power. It\u2019s a watered down version [of Hamed] but it isn\u2019t as watered down as y\u2019all think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Haney angle<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019s remarks came while he was assessing whether Romero could make a Haney fight competitive. His answer was conditional: Romero\u2019s best chance depends on catching the former undisputed lightweight champion cold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he can catch Devin early or hurt Devin, it can become a 50\/50 fight,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Jones was not predicting an upset, but pointed out that Romero\u2019s awkwardness and power create a narrow but real window of danger, the same kind of window Hamed used to exploit throughout his career at featherweight.<\/p>\n

Why Hamed remains the reference point<\/p>\n

Prince Naseem Hamed, the former WBO featherweight champion, retired in 2002 but remains boxing\u2019s go-to comparison whenever a current fighter mixes showmanship with unorthodox movement and concussive power. A Yahoo Sports feature<\/a> described Hamed as one of the sport\u2019s \u201cgreatest showmen,\u201d crediting him with making the featherweight division must-see television through a blend of somersaults, taunting, and genuine dominance.<\/p>\n

Hamed himself has been back in the public conversation recently. In a January 2026 interview with Sky Sports<\/a>, he reflected on his career and his relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle, coinciding with the UK release of the film Giant.<\/p>\n

Hamed is not just a name from the past; he is an active cultural reference in boxing. When Jones invokes him, the audience knows exactly what he means, and exactly what Romero falls short of.<\/p>\n

Compliment and insult in one shot<\/p>\n

Jones is dismissing Romero\u2019s overall quality by calling him a reduced copy of the original while warning that Romero\u2019s power is real enough to change a fight\u2019s complexion if a technically superior opponent like Haney takes him lightly.<\/p>\n

We also reported the same comments, corroborating the Fight Hub TV interview and placing the quote squarely in the context of a Romero-Haney matchup that remains a talking point rather than a confirmed booking.<\/p>\n

Whether that fight materialises, Jones\u2019s comparison has added a new layer to Romero\u2019s public profile: a fighter who is easy to dismiss on paper but carries enough odd-angle danger to keep better opponents honest, at least for the early rounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Jones Jr, the former four-weight world boxing champion and Hall of Famer, has branded WBA champion Rolando…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,2673,214292,82],"class_list":["post-551886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-rolly-romero","tag-roy-jones-jnr","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}