Las Vegas boxer, accused of sexual assault, pulled from fight

Unbeaten lightweight boxer and Las Vegas native Rolando Romero was pulled Monday from his Dec. 5 fight against superstar Gervonta “Tank” Davis, a Showtime network spokesperson said Monday, after he was accused of sexual assault in a police report filed Friday.

The Henderson police department on Monday confirmed there is an open investigation into Romero but refused to provide further details.

Henderson resident Izabel Zambrano, who filed the report, tweeted Thursday morning that she hates “seeing this sexual assault-er everywhere” after seeing a promotional video of Romero that she says triggered post-traumatic stress that stems from the alleged incident, which she claims took place in the fall of 2019.

Romero did not respond to a request for comment but released a statement through his verified Instagram account.

“Although the allegations against me are totally false and I will prove that through the legal system, I agree that it is in the best interest of everyone involved that I not participate in the upcoming pay-per-view event,” Romero said. “After clearing my name, I will return to the ring as soon as possible.”

The fight was slated to be a pay-per-view and was set to catapult the 26-year-old Romero (14-0, 12 knockouts) into the mainstream opposite Davis (25-0, 24 KOs), who, at 26, is one of boxing’s biggest superstars.

Isaac Cruz is replacing Romero, according to ESPN.

In an interview with the Review-Journal, Zambrano detailed the “paralyzing” incident and said she came forward because “if I didn’t say something now, imagine if he fought and won the fight, nobody would ever hear me ever again.

“I just see him like living this glorified life like on a pedestal like, and it just really clicked to me that this was going to be the last time that I ever was probably going to ever be heard,” she said.

Zambrano said she once had a long-standing friendship with Romero, who was signed in 2016 by Mayweather Promotions. She detailed the incident on her personal Twitter account, which has since been made private amid the demeaning and misogynistic responses to her allegations.

She said eight other women have contacted her, sharing similar stories about Romero — several of which she posted to Twitter. All of the women are Latina and Las Vegas residents, per Zambrano. “We all experienced the same thing,” she said. “It’s an attack.”

Zambrano said she’s been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder since the alleged attack and has been seeing a therapist regularly to cope with the trauma. The last 72 hours have been particularly egregious, she said, because of the backlash she received for sharing her story.

She said she hasn’t been able to eat or sleep since coming forward and wanted to speak publicly to advocate for other sexual assault survivors in Las Vegas and beyond.

“I wish I would have went to the police sooner. I wish I would have handled things different so the backlash that I received wouldn’t be what it is,” she said. “It was a trigger. It was like ‘You have to say something.’ My body, my soul, my spirituality just screamed to me at that moment ‘This is your last chance.’”

She said she hasn’t heard from Romero since she went public with her allegation.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter. Contact reporter Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.