{"id":861324,"date":"2026-08-19T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861324\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T22:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:52:08","slug":"james-toney-predicts-rolly-romero-vs-teofimo-lopez-too-big-too-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861324\/","title":{"rendered":"James Toney predicts Rolly Romero vs Teofimo Lopez: “Too big, too strong”"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Toney has assessed whether the perceived size and strength advantages of Rolando Romero<\/a> will see him retain his world title against Teofimo Lopez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Romero became the WBA \u2018Regular\u2019 champion in May 2025, producing a calculated performance that saw him drop and unanimously outpoint Ryan Garcia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the American campaigned in the 135 and 140lb divisions, but now seems a more physically imposing operator at welterweight.<\/p>\n

He has also been awarded the full WBA title since his last outing, against Garcia, with Lopez bidding to become a three-division world champion when they lock horns this Saturday.<\/p>\n

The pair will square off at Las Vegas\u2019 T-Mobile Arena, where \u2018The Takeover\u2019 hopes to silence the noise of his unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

Back then, the outcome of a Stevenson victory came as no real surprise, yet few had expected him to dethrone Lopez in such dominant fashion.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old will therefore have a point to prove when he steps through the ropes this weekend, joining the 147lb division after losing his WBO super-lightweight title.<\/p>\n

Hall of Famer Toney, however, has told Fight Hub TV<\/a> that he favours the physical attributes of Romero over Lopez\u2019s superior skillset and world-level experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like both fighters. I know Teo\u2019s going up [in weight] \u2013 it should be a good fight \u2013 but I think Rolly\u2019s shown he\u2019s come on a lot. Rolly is rolling. He\u2019s too big, too strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is worth noting, too, that Lopez has only claimed one stoppage victory \u2013 a seventh-round finish over Pedro Campa \u2013 since moving up from 135lbs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Toney has assessed whether the perceived size and strength advantages of Rolando Romero will see him retain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-861324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}