One judge had it even. The other two did not.
114-114. That was the outlier card at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night, and it was the only thing standing between Teofimo Lopez and a clean sweep. The other two judges came back 116-112 and 115-113 his way, and the WBA welterweight belt changed hands on a majority decision.
Rolando “Rolly” Romero was making his first defense. It lasted one night.
Lopez fought the fight he wanted from the opening bell. Jab, body work, feet moving, nothing that resembled the brawl Romero was hunting for. No knockdowns. Not much drama either. He simply banked rounds and left with the belt.
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Three divisions, and a career that keeps resetting
Lopez is now a world champion at a third weight. The lightweight unification over Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020 remains the signature night of his career. The WBO super-lightweight title came later.
Getting here was messy. In January, Shakur Stevenson took him apart over 12 rounds and took the WBO belt with him. That bout closed out his Top Rank contract. Lopez signed straight with DAZN afterward, cutting out the traditional promoter entirely.
Saturday was his first outing at welterweight. He hit 147 pounds on the scale, Romero came in at 146.6. Lopez moves to 23-2 with 13 stoppages. Romero falls to 17-3.
Garcia or Benn, then a unification push
He had the next fight picked out before he walked to the ring. Lopez wants whoever comes out of Ryan Garcia against Conor Benn in September, with a view to putting the welterweight belts together.
The undercard produced a second champion. Gary Antonio Russell beat Victor Santillan on all three cards, 118-109 and 119-108 twice, to pick up the interim WBA super-bantamweight title, dropping Santillan with the first meaningful punch of the 12th. Yoenli Hernandez edged Francisco Daniel Veron over 10 on a majority decision.
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