What to Know
- Teofimo Lopez Jr. previewed his upcoming fight for a third division world title in an exclusive interview with me on Thursday for NY Fights.
- Lopez Jr. is the oddsmakers’ favorite against WBA World Welterweight Champion Rolly Romero on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, airing on DAZN and Prime Video.
- Lopez Jr. is leaning into his new life as a promoter and applying lots of lessons learned.
Teofimo Lopez Jr. told me he didn’t want a tune-up fight. When the former two-division world champion steps into the ring at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 22, to challenge WBA World Welterweight champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero, he will dive right into the deep end of a new division.
I talked with Lopez Jr. just prior to his final pre-fight news conference on Thursday. Lopez Jr. has been through the Fight Week drill many times and seemed completely at ease speaking with NY Fights before his next assignment.
Saturday’s fight matchup presents Lopez Jr. with an immediate opportunity to capture a world title in his third division, but it also puts him in front of a power puncher and a longtime friend and sparring partner coming off a big win against Ryan Garcia, all of which factor into the fight.
Endorsed by Mike Tyson
Jumping directly into a championship bout without a warm-up fight is a strategic decision. This one carries the endorsement of a legendary fellow New Yorker who knows plenty about championship grit.
“You know something? Yeah, yeah,” said Lopez Jr., recalling a conversation with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in late July at the amateur Mike Tyson Invitational Tournament in Las Vegas. “Mike told me, he’s like, ‘Good, I love the fact that you did this. It’s like this is what we used to do back then. This is what it’s all about.'”
For Lopez Jr., who grew up in Brooklyn idolizing Tyson, that stamp of approval validated his willingness to embrace maximum risk.
“To hear that and to receive that from a great man like Mike Tyson, I know I’m doing the right thing for the sport,” said Lopez.
Testing Himself Against the Odds
Lopez Jr. enters Saturday’s bout following a loss to Shakur Stevenson, widely regarded as one of the most skilled boxers active today. In an era where many fighters fiercely protect unblemished records, Lopez Jr. views absorbing a loss as a necessary part of a great fighter’s evolution.
“You would hope so, right? All we could do is hope and hope that it actually does occur that way, and it looks that way to the public, to the people that love the sport as much as I do, and that all my fans and all those that are the takeover fans actually really, really support and back up everything that I’ve ever done for the sport.”
Despite coming off a defeat, oddsmakers have listed Lopez Jr. as the betting favorite over the reigning champion Romero.
“Well, with all due respect, I don’t pay attention to it,” said Lopez Jr. “I just pay attention to who is in front of me and who I’m facing next, and that is the champion himself. Whatever the odds are, that’s what they agree, and that’s what they believe in. And my job is just to go out there and complete it, and just, you know, get my hand raised and become a three-division world champion.”<
Lopez Jr. Taking On Responsibility
At age 29, Lopez Jr. is evolving from the brash young man who burst on the scene full of braggadocio and backflips. Stepping up as the CEO of his own career, he founded Takeover Promotions and inked a direct promotional partnership with DAZN. His calm demeanor, punctuated only briefly with trash talk, shows he’s growing up as most people do.
“I see it as a reward, honestly,” said Lopez. “I see it as probably like the beginning of something greater that is to be here, that is to come for my name and for my goals in the sport that I really want to implement for the next generation. I’m really supportive of the Golden Gloves of America with all the amateur young champions, and I’m really all about supporting and giving back.”
While thinking about building his business, Lopez Jr. asked someone who walked the road before him: Oscar De La Hoya.
“I picked out his brain, Golden Boy, and we’ve had many conversations, even at the MGM mansion, and we’ve had great talks. Whether he wanted to sign me, or how he started and when he became his own promoter. And I just learned from my peers, and I asked so many questions. You should never be too shy to ask enough questions.”
Taking on the added responsibilities of a promotional executive alongside active fighting keeps him grounded. “It’s a good busy,” said Lopez. “It’s a good busy.”
Still Having Fun With the Process
That executive mindset married with an outgoing performer’s personality resulted in a newly released cinematic promo video for the Rolly vs Teofimo fight, filmed at the MGM Grand Hotel featuring his father, Teofimo Lopez Sr., trainer Milton Lacroix, and the Vargas brothers Amado and Fernando Jr. Lopez served as executive producer for the project and came up with the concept and storyline in support of the fight’s title, “Put Up Or Shut Up.”
“It’s the whole thing between me and Rolando Romero,” said Lopez Jr. “It’s in Las Vegas. Vegas is a gambling town. You’re putting all in or you’re just all out. I just came up with like, hey, let’s do something like this, and let’s make it real mafioso, you know, like the Frank Sinatra days.”
Lopez thanked his director Donovan Demerin for his work. “His team, the producer, and everything, they did a phenomenal job, and it came out better than we ever expected it to be.
“So we’re either going all in in this fight, or you know, we’re drowning!” laughed Lopez Jr.
Watch “Put Up Or Shut Up”
Quick Questions Asked and Answered by Teofimo Lopez Jr.
Before heading to his press conference at the Park MGM, Lopez Jr. ran through my Quick Questions gauntlet, which never fails to turn up a surprise.
- Best nickname in boxing history:
- Dream sparring partner: Roberto Duran.
- First million-dollar purchase: “A Tiffany and Co. diamond necklace,” said Lopez Jr.
- Top three inspirations: Bruce Lee, Mike Tyson, and Muhammad Ali.
- Hardest part of training camp: “I’d say the hardest part is getting up to do it again,” said Lopez Jr.
- Dream fight venue: Wembley Stadium.
- Celebrity sparring partner: “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson,” said Lopez.
- Favorite boxing films: The entire Rocky franchise, with a nod to Southpaw.
- Skill he would steal from another fighter: “It would be Muhammad Ali, and it would just be like his talks, just the rhyme, the wittiness, how he was,” said Lopez Jr. “He was just so fluent, and it was so mesmerizing to watch.”
Building A Hall of Fame Life Piece by Piece
When he is not in training camp or running Takeover Promotions, Lopez Jr. relaxes with a surprising and charming hobby.
“Don’t make fun of me,” said Lopez Jr. ” I am actually building a lot of Lego pieces. I’m all into Legos.”
Right now, he is piecing together an iconic artistic set. “There’s a Mona Lisa frame that I’m working on,” said Lopez Jr.
With a new baby on the way and a championship fight on Saturday night against Romero, Lopez Jr. is taking on reality as master builder, snapping each piece into place round by round.
Rolly vs Teofimo takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, airing live on DAZN and Prime Video PPV, with prelims at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, and the main PPV card at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Cost is $79.99 (free to DAZN Ultimate subscribers).
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
