LOS ANGELES \u2013 On a day they dressed up the merciless boxing business as a love story, the welterweight world champion headlining the August 22 main event had quite a different story to tell.<\/p>\n
Premier Boxing Champions and DAZN Thursday formally announced a union that will launch later this month and continue past next month\u2019s Rolly Romero-Teofimo Lopez WBA title fight at Las Vegas\u2019 T-Mobile Arena to at least three other 2026 cards before a multi-year agreement described as \u201cinevitable\u201d will be struck.<\/p>\n
Basking in that arrangement is former two-division champion Lopez, 22-2 (13 KOs), who told reporters that after selling more tickets at Madison Square Garden than the 1971 ‘Fight of the Century’ between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali \u2013 while losing in January to Shakur Stevenson \u2013 he has a deal with DAZN worth more than $20-million.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t demand things if you don\u2019t supply nothing,\u201d Lopez told reporters at the news conference for his bid to become a three-division champion. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at your market. I supply and I demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romero, 17-2 (13 KOs), meanwhile, has been on the shelf for more than 14 months after his memorable knockdown and unanimous-decision victory in May 2025 over new WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia at Times Square in New York.<\/p>\n
While saying, in hindsight, that he needed the break to undergo a spiritual awakening, he also lamented the retreat of Garcia, WBC No. 1-ranked Conor Benn and WBO champion Devin Haney from negotiations that were far down the line before being scrapped. <\/p>\n
\u201cBruh, if guys are scared, guys are scared. You can\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d Romero told BoxingScene.<\/p>\n
He said Garcia shied from talks that had finalized the venue and several finer points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey straight ducked me \u2013 we had the immediate rematch, the whole signed deal, the venue, the splits, everything. Every little detail,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n
Regarding Benn he said: \u201cWe had the whole deal done to fight May 30 at Barclays Center.\u201d Instead, Benn fought veteran Regis Prograis in his retirement fight in April, and is now close to finalizing a deal to fight for Garcia\u2019s belt in September.<\/p>\n
Romero aimed extra scorn at the unbeaten Haney for retreating from a bout even after Romero had launched training camp expecting the fight to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Devin Haney fan base is completely filled with idiots,\u201d Romero said. \u201cI pressed the initiative, I sent the contracts. They wasted a month, then said I ducked.\u201c<\/p>\n
When Lopez handed Romero a large toy rubber duckie, the witty Romero responded quickly, \u201cOh, it\u2019s Devin Haney.\u201d<\/p>\n
By saying yes, yes, and yes, to such formidable foes, Romero, 30, shares a profound fighting mindset with former sparring partner Lopez, who responded to the unanimous-decision 140lbs defeat to four-division champion Stevenson by moving up in weight and fighting a world champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Shakur, I should\u2019ve trusted my instincts [and] should\u2019ve moved to 147 a year ago, but we haven\u2019t missed a beat,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
He told BoxingScene the January 31 defeat is part of \u201call of [that] motivates me, because it\u2019s not how you fail, but it\u2019s how you rise. You\u2019ve got to step up to the plate. I need to realize what lies within myself. I didn\u2019t call myself \u2018The Takeover\u2019 to not take over.\u201d<\/p>\n
The card, which will include a bout with Cuba\u2019s impressive top-ranked middleweight Yoenli \u201cYo Yo\u201d Hernandez, is coined ‘Put up or Shut up’ in a nod to both fighters\u2019 ability to talk smack.<\/p>\n
Lopez said he\u2019s up for it, realizing he can\u2019t afford a second consecutive defeat while satisfying his Latino fan base\u2019s wishes after the lopsided loss to Stevenson.<\/p>\n
His manager, Keith Connolly, said the benefits of moving to the glamorous 147 division intending to pursue an undisputed reign is brilliant and potentially lucrative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minute he wins this fight \u2013 and I\u2019m guaranteeing a victory by Teofimo Lopez \u2013 he\u2019s set up for every mega-fight\u2026 Ryan Garcia, Conor Benn, Devin Haney,\u201d Connolly said. \u201cHe has to win this fight, and he will win this fight, and he\u2019ll be back on the Mount Rushmore of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez said he\u2019s ready to give Romero the proverbial \u201cbusiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to bring the fight, push the tempo. It\u2019s put up or shut up for a reason,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cPut up our best, or that\u2019s the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Promoter Tom Brown said he expects the fighters to set aside their former friendship fully once the first bell rings.<\/p>\n
\u201cLopez is going to come to fight. I think it\u2019ll be a shootout early, they\u2019ll test that power and then we\u2019ll see where it goes,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe first couple rounds will be very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romero, of course, has a wealth of pent-up energy after the others paused him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to unify right away, but this will be an amazing name on my resume and a Hall of Fame victory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After so much of his time was wasted by the nasty part of the business, the unpredictable Romero let everyone know that, moving forward, his time is precious.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t ever get their flowers while they can still smell them, right?\u201d Romero asked. \u201cThey\u2019re going to appreciate me long after I\u2019m gone. I\u2019m just passing by. I\u2019m not here for a long time, so learn from me now because I\u2019m not going to be here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds like he\u2019s learned a valuable trick of the trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 On a day they dressed up the merciless boxing business as a love story, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,13605,20938,77737,24848,101,16920,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-685474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-conor-benn","tag-devin-haney","tag-rolly-romero","tag-ryan-garcia","tag-sports","tag-teofimo-lopez","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}