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Neither Alberto Puello nor Rolly Romero will have to travel far for their 140-pound title fight.
BoxingScene.com has learned that their Premier Boxing Champions main event May 13 will take place at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Showtime will televise Puello-Romero as the main event of a tripleheader from The Chelsea, a cozy concert and event venue inside The Cosmopolitan.
Puello, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic who will make the first defense of his WBA super lightweight title, trains and resides part-time in Las Vegas. Romero is a native of North Las Vegas and lives and trains in the Las Vegas area.
Puello (21-0, 10 KOs) will defend the WBA belt he won seven months ago. The 28-year-old Puello beat Uzbekistan’s Batyr Akhmedov (9-2, 8 KOs) by split decision in their competitive 12-round bout to win that title August 20 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Puello and Akhmedov fought for a vacant WBA crown that former undisputed 140-pound champ Josh Taylor relinquished.
Romero (14-1, 12 KOs) will make his debut at the 140-pound limit when he opposes Puello.
The hard-hitting, 27-year-old contender hasn’t fought in the almost 10 months since rival Gervonta Davis handed him his first professional defeat. Baltimore’s Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) abruptly ended their competitive contest with a left hand that knocked Romero out in the sixth round of their WBA secondary 135-pound championship match May 28 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Junior welterweight contender Gary Antuanne Russell (16-0, 16 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Maryland, will box St. Louis’ Kent Cruz (16-0-3, 10 KOs) in Showtime’s 10-round co-feature May 13. Cuban junior welterweight contender Rances Barthelemy (29-2-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) and Omar Juarez (14-1, 5 KOs), of Brownsville, Texas, are scheduled to square off in the 10-round opener of Showtime’s three-bout broadcast that night.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
