On Sat., Aug. 22, 2026, Brooklyn’s future hall of famer, former undisputed lightweight champion (135 lbs.) and former WBO junior welterweight champion (140 lbs.) Teofimo Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) won his third world title in as many weight classes by defeating two division WBA welterweight (147lbs) champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero (17-3, 13KOs) by majority decision in spectacular fashion.
Going into the fight, the two fighters had past history because they were friends and had spared with each other as amateurs in the gym. The last time boxing fans saw Teofimo Lopez was when he lost his WBO Jr. welterweight title to “pound for pound” (P4P) and three division champion Shakur Stevenson last January in Madison Square Garden by unanimous decision.
The defeat was so one-sided that many had written off Teofimo, predicting that his boxing career was over. Many failed to see why Teofimo lost to Shakur. It was not due to any decline in Teofimo’s boxing ability, but rather because two of boxing’s top fighters were matching of against each other.
Shakur is one of the best fighters P4P in boxing today and arguably one of the top three fighters in all of boxing today. Therefore, it was not a fair assessment of Teofimo’s career to conclude that he was washed up as a fighter.
A comparison could be made to when the great “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler knocked out Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns in three rounds when they fought back in 1985. Hagler and Hearns were two of the best fighters in boxing at the time. Hearns, even though he suffered a brutal knock out at the hands of Hagler, rebounded and went on to win three more world titles in other divisions before he would eventually retire from the sport after his loss to Hagler.
Therefore, it was no surprise to this writer that Teofimo defeated Rolly Saturday night even though I had initially picked Rolly to beat Teofimo. I then reversed myself to pick Teofimo by decision victory. Why?
One only needs to go back to Rolly’s and Teofimo’s boxing resumes. When Rolly fought three division world boxing champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis back in 2022, he was all aggression and no boxing skill. Tank was able to stop Rolly in the sixth round. Rolly rebounded by defeating top contender Ishmael Barrosa in a very controversial ending that gave him his first world title, the WBA Jr. welterweight (140 lbs.) championship. Rolly lost badly in his first defense to Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz by an 8th round stoppage. After one comeback fight, Rolly shocked the boxing establishment by defeating Ryan “King Ry” Garcia by a unanimous decision victory for the vacant WBA (regular) welterweight title last May. That night Rolly fought a disciplined tactical fight using good boxing skill and even scored a knockdown against Ryan in the second round. Rolly has renowned trainer Ismael Salas as his current Coach. There is no doubt that Rolly is an improved fighter from when he fought Tank to when he fought Ryan. Also, Rolly is an excellent puncher with spectacular punching power.
However, one cannot compare the boxing skills of Rolly to Teofimo’s. The latter defeated world champions Vasiliy Lomenchenko and Josh Taylor. Boxing common sense says that anything can happen in boxing if a fighter lands the correct punch on his opponent. That school of thought favors a puncher like Rolly. Other boxing common sense says if Teofimo uses his speed, good defense, throws good boxing combinations, and was not careless, he in all likelihood would defeat Rolly Romero and win his third world title.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night. At the start of the first bell Teofimo was clearly the better boxer. He established a good jab and threw good combination punches. Rolly for his part used good defense and looked to counter Teofimo and looked for openings. Teofimo won the first three rounds of the scheduled 12 championship rounds. By the 4th round Rolly began to find his target and was able to win the 4th round on Haiti Liberté’s unofficial scorecard.
The 5th round was Rolly’s biggest and best round. He landed a massive right hand and followed it with a left hand that not only seriously hurt Teofimo but also opened a cut on the right side of Teofimo’s eye. Many in the audience who had picked Rolly because of his punching power thought that the fight might have ended in a knockout in the 5th round. Teofimo clinched (held on to Rolly) who fell on his knees to the canvas, but the Referee ruled it was a push.
Teofimo was able to regain his bearings and began working behind his jab doing the same work he had done in the first three rounds. As Teofimo said in the post-fight press conferences, that punch by Rolly woke him up.
All credit to Teofimo’s cut man who did an excellent job controlling the bleeding so Teofimo could focus on the fighting. Teofimo boxed well and fought when he had to and won, on Haiti Liberté’s unofficial scorecard, the remaining five of seven rounds.
Haiti Liberté scored the fight eight rounds to four rounds in favor of Teofimo Lopez. The official scorecards were 116-112 and 115-113 for Teofimo while the third Judge scored the fight 114-114 a draw. With this victory, Teofimo wins the WBA title and becomes a 3-division boxing champion and is likely a first ballet boxing hall of famer when he retires.
In regard to his boxing future, Teofimo stated that he plans to unify the welterweight division. The other champions are WBC champion Ryan Garcia, who defends against Connor Benn in this September. Devin Haney is the WBO champion, and the IBF champion is Liam Paro.
Teofimo said he is paying close attention to Garcia vs. Benn. In regard to Haney, he said a fight with him should be for the undisputed title, since they had a dispute when they both were lightweight champions simultaneously holding titles. In regard to Rolly, he disagreed with the Official Judges’ decision. Rolly believed that he should have won the fight and asked for a rematch.
Some say boxing is dead. If you were watching Teofimo and Rolly fight on Aug. 22, you would surely disagree.
Contact Writer: Rl*********@*ol.com
