Forgotten Warriors: Johnny Bandit Romero

[BoztheMadman]

He has the distinction of having 140 wins on his record and with 91 knockouts he belongs also to a very exclusive club, yet Johnny Romero aka Bandit is largely forgotten and neglected by boxing historians of today. He also holds wins over Archie Moore, Lloyd Marshall, Carmen Barth, Jack Thompson and Jack Coggins and also fought Freddie Steele, Gus Lesnevich, Ceferino Garcia, Babe Risko and Gorilla Jones. He is listed as standing just below 5’10 (177 cm)  and with a reach of 71 (180 cm). He was a hard puncher, as his ko ratio indicates.
 

Born in San Diego to Mexican parents, his real name was John Frank Romero. There isn’t much info on him, but he started boxing professionally on 1 April 1927 and won his first three bouts before losing the fourth on points to Joe Andrews. He then posted 16 wins and one draw before losing again by TKO6 to Tony Portillo. He first fought as a middleweight, by the way. He would lose twice more to Portillo, but on points. His early career was a mixed bag and he won many bouts but also lost quite many, so it took him quite a long time to get to the top level. In 1933, he fought Ceferino Garcia twice, first he was knocked out in 8 rounds in what was actually the California State welterweight title fight and then he lost on points only a month later, in February and March respectively. Later that same year, he was knocked out by Gorilla Jones in three rounds. On 27 February next year, he fought the future world middleweight champion Freddie Steele and was stopped in two rounds. 
 

He moved up to light heavyweight later that same year and started doing better. In May 1935 however, he dropped a decision to his arch nemesis Swede Berglund. After winning four more fights, he again fought Berglund and got knocked out in 5 rounds. He then dropped a decision to Emilio Martinez but then stopped him in the rematch later by TKO 10. his first great victory came against Carmen Barth, a skilled boxer, on 20 November 1936 at the San Diego Coliseum. He actually weighed in at less than middleweight Barth but won by a very impressive TKO 2. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the better of Swede Berglund and dropped two straight decisions to him. On 14 May 1937 he fought the future world champion Gus Lesnevich in Hollywood and was stopped by TKO 7. On 17 December that year came another great victory, albeit against a green Lloyd Marshall, and he defeated Marshall on points in ten rounds. Next year on 24 June at Lane Field in San Diego, he scored his greatest victory when he beat the then-23-1-2 Archie Moore by another ten-round decision. He lost the rematch to Lloyd Marshall on 21 July, also by PTS 10. 
 

He then also rematched Moore on 2 September, which proved unwise, and got stopped by TKO 8. The rest of his career would be back and forth, winning against solid fighters like Harry English (KO2), Jack Thompson (TKO5) and going 2-2 against Jack Coggins, beating him twice on points and getting stopped twice, last time at the end of his career. He was also knocked out by world champ Anton Christoforidis in 3 rounds in 1941 and lost the rubbermatch against Lloyd Marshall by PTS 10 in 1942. Romero finally retired after losing to Jack Crowell on points 12 June 1943. His record is 140 wins, 47 losses and 8 draws. 
 

He died on 28 August 1978, aged 68, which means he probably was born in 1910 or late 1909 maybe. Johnny Bandit Romero was a typical old time boxer and a warrior who loved to fight and fought a lot, but unfortunately never got to fight for a world title, due to losing too many important fights. He still scored some big upsets and therefore was no joke. He deserves to be remembered for that, but right now he is a FORGOTTEN WARRIOR!