Kenneth Sims Jr: I’ve shaken off rust and am ready for big fights at 140

It had been almost 15 months since Kenneth Sims Jr. last entered the ring. But now that the junior welterweight contender has returned — stopping late replacement opponent Jonathan Romero after five rounds on Saturday night — Sims feels ready to get back to where he was before the layoff.

“I definitely felt some rust. Maybe around the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth is when I felt back to normal,” Sims told reporters on Saturday night following the conclusion of the Vergil Ortiz vs. Serhii Bohachuk main event. “There’s definitely some rust, but I’m ready for a big fight.”

Sims saw multiple changes of opponent in the lead-up to August 10. The initial announcement of his fight made on July 26 had him taking on Jesus Perez, 25-5 (18 KOs), who lost a pair of decisions to Alexis Rocha and Brian Norman Jr. but took a split decision over Joseph Diaz Jr. this past February.

Then Perez was placed by Jair Valtierra, who is 17-3 (9 KOs), with two of those losses coming via decision to prospects Raymond Muratalla in 2022 and Lindolfo Delgado in 2023.

But Valtierra was unable to make it into the United States. So Golden Boy Promotions called in Romero at the last minute. Romero is now 35-5 (19 KOs). More than a decade ago he was a titleholder in the 122-pound weight class, picking up a vacant belt in February 2013 but then losing it to Kiko Martinez via TKO six months later. Coming into this bout, Romero had lost three in a row, knocked out in three by junior lightweight Abraham Nova in July 2023, knocked out in one round by junior lightweight  Albert Bell in March and then outpointed by junior welterweight Manuel Jaimes less than a month ago.

How last-minute was Romero as a replacement opponent? He wasn’t able to make it to the Friday morning weigh-in in time, which meant that Sims also had to wait until very late in the evening to step on the scales. Romero showed up at 145.4 pounds while Sims, by that time, had rehydrated and fueled himself up to 148.4 pounds.

“I just wanted to press it. I knew he got the call last-minute. I was kind of trying to take my frustration out,” Sims said. “I was waiting around. I didn’t weigh in until last night at 10 pm. I was just trying to use it as motivation. I don’t think I would’ve done nothing different. He really didn’t engage. I had to press the pace. I had to make something happen otherwise we’d have been dancing around the ring for 10 rounds.”

Sims is now 21-2-1 (8 KOs). The 30-year-old from Chicago has now won eight in a row since a 2018 decision loss to Samuel Teah. Among those Sims has defeated along the way: the previously unbeaten Elvis Rodriguez and 2016 Olympian Batyr Akhmedov.

The WBA ranks Sims as its top contender; earlier this month, Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela upset Isaac Cruz to win the sanctioning body’s title at 140 pounds.

Junior welterweight is a division packed full of talent, so Sims is interested in multiple opponents.

“Any and everybody. And if it’s not a belt, it’s a big fight,” he said. “The names, I can beat them. I know I can. I know I will. And that’s what I want.”

Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.