Lopez wrests Romero's title, now 3-weight champ

LAS VEGAS -- Teofimo Lopez became a three-division world champion on Saturday night, when he captured the WBA welterweight title over his former friend and sparring partner Rolando "Rolly" Romero at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In his welterweight debut, Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) held up well to Romero's power en route to a majority decision. One judge scored the 147-bout 114-114, while the other two had it 115-113 and 116-112 for Lopez. It was an impressive bounce-back for Lopez following his lopsided decision loss to Shakur Stevenson in their WBO super lightweight title fight in January. "I need to tell you guys, if you lose and you come back, then you never lost because you're a winner," Lopez said. "I'm a winner. I'm a true example of what winning is and it ain't about losing. It's about never giving up." For Romero (17-3, 13 KOs), it was his first appearance since he claimed the WBA title in an upset decision over Ryan Garcia in May 2025. It's difficult to say whether the 15-month layoff hurt Romero's performance, but he nevertheless struggled to keep up with Lopez's pace and timing in the second half. According to Compubox, Lopez landed 124 of 530 total punches; Romero landed 73 of 352, including just two in the final round. Despite the punch totals, Romero expressed outrage at the scores. "I got hit with two punches the whole fight that barely grazed me," said Romero, a Las Vegas native. "I was never in any trouble. When I heard 114-114, I knew it was a robbery." Romero knocked Lopez off-balance with a counter left hook in the fourth round and had him visibly hurt with a right hand in the fifth, but Lopez recovered quickly and responded with some of his best work in the sixth and seventh rounds. Lopez landed 62 jabs in the fight and 124 shots to the body, causing Romero's left rib cage to be visibly red in the later rounds. "I expected something similar to this, just a little more combinations from [him]" said Lopez, who sparred with Romero multiple times in his amateur and early professional career. "He was calculated, staying composed and listening to his corner. We had to go push the fight if need be. There was a shot he hit me with that woke me up, and I told him, 'You got to do better than that.' I just kept saying, 'You ain't going to take me out. It's not that easy.'" Lopez, 29, has plenty of potential options in his new division, including WBO champion Devin Haney, the winner of next month's WBC clash between Garcia and Conor Benn and IBF champion Liam Paro. The current WBA mandatory challenger is regular champion Jack Catterall. Romero suffered his first loss since he was stopped in the eighth round by Isaac Cruz in March 2024.