A friendship paused: Teofimo Lopez, Rolly Romero shift to fighting mood

LAS VEGAS – Boxing and niceties aren’t suited for each other, so less than 24 hours into Rolly Romero-Teofimo Lopez fight week, voices were raised, hands were slammed on tables, and politeness gave way to friction.

The friendly peers who’ve crossed paths while pursuing world titles on divergent paths for the past decade now find themselves fighting each other Saturday night for Romero’s WBA welterweight title.

And at Thursday’s final conference before the DAZN/Prime Video pay-per-view main event at T-Mobile Arena, the awkwardness over how to proceed was clarified the moment Lopez told the similarly religious Romero,”You’re going to be my Judas.”

Romero had just jokingly mimicked Lopez’s father-trainer, Teofimo Lopez Snr’s quote, “We beat Lomachenko,” when Teofimo Jnr grabbed the mic and asked Team Romero, “What have any of you guys done in this sport to even comment? I beat [two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division champion Vasiliy] Lomachenko when no one wanted to fight Lomachenko and he was No. 1 pound-for-pound over Canelo [Alvarez], over [Terence] Crawford. You came afterward to congratulate me.

“All of you are my fans. I’m fighting my fans now. Everyone needs a reality check on this thing. I’m coming back for vengeance, and I mean that... I always knew how you were with me.”

With that, Lopez Snr pounded his fists on the table to exclaim, “Fuck, yeah!” multiple times.

Someone needed to bring the tension, and two-division champion Lopez, 22-2 (13 KOs), did it, bringing a big-brother vibe to the room as Las Vegas’ two-division titlist Romero, 17-2 (13 KOs), was left to play verbal defense.

“I supported you the whole time,” Romero responded.

“No… you took the fight because you believe you can beat me,” Lopez charged. “Now, we’re here.”

Romero reminded Lopez he didn’t accept the fight originally, adding, “Then, you tried to run over to Zuffa [Boxing] and they didn’t want you.”

Lopez Snr answered, “You’re going to get your chance, Rolly. When you corner a dog, he’s going to come to fight. There’s not going to be any hugging in this fight.”   

Lopez Jnr has reason to be perturbed. The challenger in this fight, he’s coming off a wide loss on the scorecards to four-division champion Shakur Stevenson and he has to answer for no stoppages in his past six 140lbs bouts all while confronting the pressure to impress as he launches a multi-fight deal with DAZN he values at $20 million.

Lopez is a -280 betting favorite.

“That fight in January was a mental fight to destroy my son, and now we’re coming back to fuck everybody up who’s fucked with my son. My son loves it when he’s down,” Lopez Snr said.

Romero trainer Ismael Salas reminded Lopez Snr he has cornered 25 world champions and emphasized, “I am a trainer, not a clown. The day of the fight is the day we show what we have.”

The fighters know each other so well it would seem each may tinker with their style to the event.

“The last time we shared a ring [sparring] was in 2019. Those years have changed a lot in our techniques,” Lopez Jnr said. “We see a more composed Rolly, and he has punch selections. For me, it’s what do I have to do to engage, and I look forward to seeing that within myself Saturday night.”

The winner positions himself for unified title fights as Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Liam Paro currently wear the belts, a scenario former three-belt lightweight champion Lopez said he envisions playing a prominent role. 

Doing so with his first knockout in four years would prove the point the proverbial gloves are off.

“That’s the best thing to ask, and the best thing to do is just watch it,” Lopez said when asked if the extra weight at 147lbs could stimulate him to end the knockout drought. “Tune in, and we still have tickets available.

“That will be shown Saturday night.”