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Rolando “Rolly” Romero defends his WBA welterweight world title against Teofimo Lopez Jr. on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Prime Video PPV, DAZN PPV, 8 p.m. ET).
Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) defeated Ryan Garcia in May 2025 to win the WBA “regular” welterweight title and was elevated to “super” champion three weeks later after Jaron Ennis vacated the belt to move up in weight.
Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs), a former lightweight and junior welterweight world champion, is coming off a one-sided defeat to Shakur Stevenson in January. Lopez was outboxed in that fight and lost 119-109 on all three judges’ scorecards.
While Lopez has the edge in overall boxing ability, Romero possesses fight-changing power in both hands, particularly his looping left hand, which he used to knock down Garcia.
Can Lopez use his footwork, speed and movement to keep Romero at a distance and avoid his power shots? Or will Romero pressure Lopez early and land enough power punches to keep Lopez second-guessing himself?
Former champions Roy Jones Jr. and Raul Marquez and boxing analyst Al Bernstein break down how the fight could play out and offer their picks.
Editor’s note: Content has been edited for brevity and clarity.
I think it’s a great fight for TV, a great fight for the fans. Romero is the guy who’s a puncher. If he can catch you and make it a disruptive game, he’s got you. But clearly Lopez is a better boxer with more skills. So, if you’ve got a puncher and a guy that has skill, it makes for a great fight. I think this is the kind of fight that either one can flourish in. I would lean towards Lopez because he has the skill advantage, but Romero’s power changes a lot of people’s minds.
Editor’s Picks
Got to shock him, then either keep him on the run or knock him out.
If he catches him with a looping left hand or a right hand, he might trouble Lopez, but I don’t think he will.
To set up his punches, he must jab and paw every now and then and look for the opening. Make Lopez punch, and punch when he punches.
Romero can hit him every now and then with a good shot, because Romero has unusual punching power. I always tell people, Romero is a U.S. version of “Prince” Naseem Hamed. He doesn’t have the same skills, but he does have similar punching power.
Just box and get back to his game. Lopez clearly has got more skills, without a question, but you’ve got to stick to your skills and believe in yourself. You can’t let Romero’s power discourage you from being you.
Prediction: It’s a tough call, man. Either one of them could win the fight. I would lean toward Lopez’s boxing skills, but if Romero can hurt him early like he hurt Ryan Garcia, who knows? We’ve got to see what Lopez has in the tank. If I had to pick one, I’d probably lean towards Lopez’s boxing skills.
Rolando “Rolly” Romero, left, has a powerful left hand that he used to knock down Ryan Garcia when they faced in May 2025. Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty ImagesYou couldn’t have two more enigmatic fighters, could you? It is very difficult to know who is showing up with either man. This is going to sound very negative, but sorry: Romero has had one really solid performance in his career, and that was the win over Ryan Garcia. Beyond that, it’s hard to point to a signature performance by him. But he did get that win and he keeps finding himself in these major fights. And this to me is an absolute pivotal fight for Romero. Because if Lopez shows up as the solid Lopez that we mostly see, but don’t always see, and Romero can perform well against that version of Lopez, it will signal that Romero is better than some of us ever thought he might be. So this fight is vital for him.For Lopez, I think it’s really, really important as well, because coming off the loss against Shakur Stevenson and fighting a fighter that truthfully he should be better than, we’re going to find out where he’s at right now. He must know how vital it is for him to get a win in this fight. And in a way, Romero could be the perfect opponent for Lopez, coming off this high-profile loss. This fight could be an extraordinarily winnable fight for Lopez, but will still count as a major win.How does Romero win the fight?He wins it one of two ways. One, with the power. He’s got a good right hand. That might be his major power weapon, and he could win it by hurting Lopez at some point in the fight. Even if he doesn’t get a knockout, it would make the fight a very defensive fight on Lopez’s part and could get Romero a win. The other way he wins is the same way he won against Garcia: Your opponent shows up as a lesser version of who he’s supposed to be. Really, in the Garcia win, it wasn’t that Romero did anything special in that fight, right? It’s just that Garcia did nothing. Romero wins with power punches, but against A-level fighters, he hasn’t really done that. The A- or B-level fighters that he’s fought, his power hasn’t really made a difference, except I guess against [Ismael] Barroso.How does Lopez win the fight?I think it’s a matter of being busy and boxing correctly. With Romero, most opponents win a lot of rounds against him. So by being busy and doing the right things against him, you can stack up rounds. Lopez just needs to fight like he’s capable of fighting and put his punches together. Lopez is fighting a fighter that does have some power, so is he capable of being an offensive fighter without being wildly risk-taking? We haven’t seen that in Lopez for a little bit. Even in his last fight, he was cautious, right?Romero could attack and test Lopez from the start, try that and see what fruits it bears. But Lopez is a good counterpuncher. So Romero could have the same thing happen to him that happened in the Gervonta Davis fight [TKO loss in 2022].Prediction: I guess I would go with Lopez, but it would be a tentative pick. I’d be forced to go with him because, at the end of the day, it feels like he still should have good fights in him. And if he brings that good fight, in theory, it should be enough to beat Romero, unless Romero does something extraordinary that we don’t know he’s capable of.Raul Marquez, boxing analyst, former junior middleweight champion and member of the Nevada Boxing Hall of FameThe matchupTeofimo Lopez, left, is the most technical fighter with great footwork and counterpunching abilities. Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty ImagesI think Lopez is a better boxer. He’s faster on his feet. He throws sharp combinations. He can make adjustments. Lopez has skills, man. Romero, I guess his biggest weapon would be his power. He’s got that looping left hand and he’s got some awkwardness to him. He’s very awkward and he throws from different angles. I think Lopez will probably make him reach, kind of bait him into reaching, then counter him.How does Romero win the fight?Even though I don’t think Ryan Garcia was at 100%, we’ve got to give Romero credit. He beat him. And he did fight very focused. He wasn’t wild in that fight. He was very self-centered. To a certain extent, he was cautious. His defense was tight. He didn’t allow Garcia to counterpunch. He didn’t leave himself open. He could do that against Lopez. But I still think he’s the one that has to put the pressure on. Intelligent pressure, like he did against Garcia.Lopez is very skillful. He’s got very good moves, very good. His footwork is great. He’s got great counter-function abilities. He’s fast. So I think Romero needs to make the fight, but be intelligent when pressuring Lopez. He doesn’t want to get countered. You just can’t throw wildly. If he starts going wild with Lopez, that’s not going to work.Romero has to be tight with his defense. Apply consistent pressure behind a good jab and behind good defense. He’s got to make the fight. He’s got to use his strength. He’s got power. I mean, that’s what he’s got going: the power.How does Lopez win the fight?Control the distance. He’s the better boxer. He’s got the faster feet. He throws the sharper combinations. Keep the fight at mid- to long-range and fight him at angles. And sometimes, maybe in the second half of the fight, Lopez will be able to fight him more, push him back. But he should attack at angles, never come straight forward. Be smart in and out, using his speed — like how he usually fights. He’s really good on his feet and he throws sharp combinations from different angles.At times, Lopez is going to have more success at countering. Obviously, it’s not going to be at the beginning, because they’re fresh. When he’s breaking Romero down mentally because of his boxing abilities, and when he catches Romero coming in, reaching for him, Romero is going to get desperate trying to land a big shot. And that’s when he’s got him. In the second half of a fight, that’s when Lopez could capitalize with his counters. Romero is going to start lunging, getting over his front foot. Lopez has to stay on his back foot when Romero is attacking.Romero punches from some weird angles. He’s very awkward. If Rolly lands a crazy overhand, he could hurt Lopez. So you can never count Romero out, even in the second half of the fight, because he throws that looping left over the top and he throws it from different angles. He’s got power. But he’s not Shakur Stevenson. He’s not going to do what Shakur did to Lopez. They’re totally different types of fighters.Prediction: I think Lopez wins the fight, eight rounds to four.
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