Teofimo Lopez Outpoints Rolly Romero to Become Three-Division World Champion
Teofimo Lopez is a world champion again — this time 15 pounds heavier than when he first shook up the sport. The 29-year-old from Brooklyn won a majority decision over Rolando 'Rolly' Romero to claim the WBA welterweight title on Saturday, August 22, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas The Guardian.
Two judges scored it for Lopez, 115-113 and 116-112, while the third saw it level at 114-114. Bleacher Report's live scorecard was far wider, giving Lopez 10 of 12 rounds for a 118-110 margin Bleacher Report.
The numbers tell the story of the fight. Compubox, boxing's official punch-tracking system, recorded Lopez landing 124 punches to Romero's 73, including a career-high 62 jabs — the straight lead that sets up everything else. Romero reached double figures in punches landed in just one round, the fifth.
That fifth round was Romero's best and most dangerous moment. He opened a cut above Lopez's right eye and hurt him with a left hook followed by a looping right hand. For a brief stretch the champion looked close to turning the fight on its head. Lopez weathered it, recovered, and went back to outboxing his man.
Romero, 30, was making the first defence of the WBA welterweight title he won by outpointing Ryan Garcia 15 months earlier in Times Square. His record falls to 17-2 WBA.
For Lopez, the victory adds a welterweight crown — boxing's 147-pound division — to championship reigns he previously held at lightweight (135 lb) and junior welterweight (140 lb). Three weight classes, three titles. It also marks a sharp rebound from February, when Shakur Stevenson comprehensively outpointed him by identical scores of 119-109 — a fight in which Lopez won only one round on two of the three cards.
What comes next is already a source of friction. Jack Catterall holds the WBA 'Regular' belt, which ordinarily makes him the mandatory challenger — the fighter a champion is contractually obliged to face next. Lopez, though, declined to call him out. Instead, he named two preferred options: the winner of the WBC welterweight title fight between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn, scheduled for September 12 at the same T-Mobile Arena, or a unification bout with Australia's IBF champion Liam Paro BBC Sport.
A unification fight pits two reigning world champions from different sanctioning bodies against each other — the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO each crown their own champion, so holding all four makes a fighter undisputed. Lopez also said he would rather wait for Devin Haney, the WBO champion, than take other bouts.
Catterall, for his part, wasted no time. He posted on X: "Congratulations Teofimo Lopez but I will be taking that belt 100%. Let's Gooo" BBC Sport.
The WBA can choose to enforce Catterall's mandatory position or allow Lopez to pursue a unification bout instead. That decision — and the matchmaking that follows — will shape what the welterweight division looks like for the rest of 2026.
