Teofimo Lopez Begins His Path To Undisputed Welterweight Champion

He did so by demonstrating his heart and determination, outpointing Romero to a majority decision. Lopez showed he wanted it more and was willing to go out on his shield by pressing the action, refusing to back down. He fought a power puncher and had him on his back foot for most of the match. He survived the fifth round, thinking to himself it’s going to take more than that to take him out.

Lopez told the media at the post-fight press conference of the younger version of himself who would get mad at not being able to land against his opponent and would invite his opponent to hit him; that’s the fighter in him that welcomes a war.

Teo outlanded Rolly 124 to 73 in total punches, outlanding him in 10 of 12 rounds. He was almost more effective offensively, having a better connection rate in both jabs (17.7%) and power punches (34.6). Romero was extremely economical with his punches, with a very low output, landing a single-digit number of punches in 11 of 12 rounds (Compubox). Former opponent Shakur Stevenson spoke of Lopez’s ability on X and what makes him special: “Teo has some sort of ability to make other fighters not throw a lot of punches and move a lot more than their usual style. I seen it with Loma, Ortiz, Sandor Martin, and now Rolly. Nonetheless, Teo did what he could with the style that was presented and got the job done!”