Teofimo Lopez is just two weeks away from his highly anticipated 147-pound debut. On August 22 at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, the former unified lightweight king will challenge WBA welterweight champion Rolando Romero in a major Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) pay-per-view streaming on DAZN and Prime Video.
Before Lopez can look ahead, he must first get through Romero. “Rolly” proved his danger at welterweight by knocking down Ryan Garcia and defeating him on all three scorecards to secure the WBA crown in a big upset.
But Lopez, 29, has also his sights set higher. Devin Haney currently holds the WBO welterweight title, and Lopez has already been in his ear about a future undisputed collision
Teofimo Lopez Details Private Conversation with Devin Haney
Lopez opened up to Sean Zittel about a private chat he had with Haney, mapping out a long-term plan for the 147-pound division.
Lopez told him, “Me and you, we’re going to go two different sides, but we’re going to meet at the end for undisputed at once. He said, ‘All right, those are your words.’ I said, ‘I’m keeping them. Let’s get it going.’ So, I think right now it’s more so who wins September 12th, but mainly right now focus on August 22nd. We’ll go from there. I don’t think I’m going to see Haney until the end.”
The strategy here is pretty clear. Lopez isn’t rushing a massive payday or an immediate showdown. Instead, he wants both fighters to dominate opposite sides of the division, collect their respective titles and build a massive winner-take-all legacy fight down the line.
Teofimo Lopez Lays Out His Welterweight Blueprint
Lopez moving up to 147 pounds is a massive gamble. He just lost his junior welterweight belts to Shakur Stevenson back in January in a brutal 119-109 shutout. So, he’s jumping weight classes to try and become a three-division champ. Standing in his way is Romero, who hasn’t fought since he shocked Garcia in Times Square last May to grab the vacant title.
Romero is a wild power puncher who just wants to walk guys down and throw bombs. Lopez is an orthodox counterpuncher with crazy hand speed. But he admitted that handling pressure and adjusting his fundamentals has given him trouble in the past.
“Absolutely. You just got to practice. You got to practice on all those fundamentals. That’s it. I’m a pure boxer when it comes to it,” Lopez said. “Coming forward has been looked at as a flaw of mine, but flaws are meant to happen so that you can fix them.”
That self-awareness is exactly what Lopez needs. He knows where the holes are in his game, and he’s fixing them so he can be perfect by the time he finally shares a ring with Haney. Even Ryan Garcia thinks Lopez is the clear favorite here, recently predicting that Lopez simply has Rolly’s number.
Right now, Haney is the absolute benchmark at 147 pounds. At just 27, he holds the WBO welterweight title and has already claimed belts across three divisions.
However, Lopez’s plan to meet Haney at the end only works if both men keep winning. Haney was supposed to defend his title against Keyshawn Davis next, but Davis pulled out of the fight over a purse dispute. With Haney’s next move uncertain, Lopez just needs to focus on beating Romero on August 22.
