{"id":593371,"date":"2026-08-23T09:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/593371\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T09:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:36:16","slug":"teofimo-lopez-outpoints-rolly-romero-to-win-title-in-third-weight-class-teofimo-lopez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/593371\/","title":{"rendered":"Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez outpoints Rolly Romero to win title in third weight class | Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez became a three-division world champion on Saturday night, winning a 12-round majority decision over Rolando \u2018Rolly\u2019 Romero to claim the WBA welterweight title at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">L\u00f3pez prevailed by scores of 115-113 and 116-112, while the third judge saw the fight even at 114-114. Romero, making the first defense of his title <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2025\/may\/02\/ryan-garcia-upset-rolly-romero-times-square-boxing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won against Ryan Garcia 15 months ago<\/a>, disputed the result in the immediate aftermath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWhen I heard 114-114 I knew it was a robbery,\u201d Romero said. \u201cI got hit with two punches the whole fight that barely grazed me. I was never in any trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The victory gave L\u00f3pez a world title at 147lb after previous championship reigns at lightweight and junior welterweight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">L\u00f3pez largely controlled the fight behind his jab and movement, keeping the heavier-handed Romero from consistently closing the distance. According to Compubox\u2019s punch statistics, L\u00f3pez landed 124 punches to Romero\u2019s 73, including a career-high 62 jabs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Romero\u2019s best stretch came in the fifth round, when he opened a cut above L\u00f3pez\u2019s right eye and followed with a left hook and looping right hand that hurt the challenger. Romero pressed forward as L\u00f3pez bled heavily, but the 29-year-old weathered the attack and recovered before the end of the round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cHe hit me with a shot that woke me up,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cI was just buzzed. I got right back to it. I stayed cool, calm and collected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both fighters raise their arms in victory after the final bell. Photograph: Mikael Ona\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">L\u00f3pez regained control over the middle and later rounds, using his footwork to stay outside Romero\u2019s range while scoring with single punches and combinations. The 30-year-old struggled to sustain his offense and reached double figures in punches landed in only the fifth round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Romero produced another late opening in the 11th, catching L\u00f3pez with a left hook that knocked him off balance. Neither fighter was able to establish a decisive advantage in a closely contested final round before the bout went to the scorecards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The win completed a rapid return to championship status for L\u00f3pez, only seven months after Shakur Stevenson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2026\/feb\/01\/shakur-stevenson-teofimo-lopez-fight-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">comprehensively outpointed him<\/a> by identical scores of 119-109. L\u00f3pez had described that defeat as \u201cthe best thing that could have happened to us\u201d, saying it helped realign him with his father and trainer, Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez Sr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIf you lost and you come back, then you never lost, because you\u2019re a winner,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cI\u2019m a true example of what winning is. It\u2019s about not giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">L\u00f3pez said afterward that he was ready to move on to his next challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI just had to stay busy and keep my range against a strong puncher,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just looking forward to the next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Te\u00f3fimo L\u00f3pez became a three-division world champion on Saturday night, winning a 12-round majority decision over Rolando \u2018Rolly\u2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-593371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}