WBA Welterweight World Champion Rolly Romero previewed his showdown against two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez and gave his insights on the significance of their world title showdown taking place Saturday, August 22 headlining a PBC Pay-Per-View event available on DAZN and Prime Video from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While Romero acknowledges his friendship with Lopez, which includes multiple sparring sessions between the two champions, he made it clear that it won’t have any bearings on the outcome when they go toe-to-toe under the bright lights.
“Yeah we’re friends and we know each other’s families, but none of that matters on August 22,” said Romero. “I’m looking to be a Hall of Famer, just like Teofimo is. The only way to do that is to go through each other!
“That’s what’s wrong with boxing nowadays. Everybody wants to be friends, but they’re scared to fight each other and instead forget why we all got into this sport to begin with. That’s to become a legend and one of the best of our generation.”
The Las Vegas-native has had success and won titles at 135, 140 and 147 pounds, reaching the pinnacle of the sport in just 15 pro fights as he challenged lightweight superstar Gervonta Davis in a 2022 super fight. Despite coming up on the short end against Davis, the 30-year-old continued to add accolades, becoming a super lightweight world champion with a ninth-round TKO over Ismael Barroso in 2023.
After losing the title to Mexican superstar Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in 2024, he got back into the win column later that year against Manuel Jaimes, before making his move to 147 pounds. Once again facing a fellow star of this generation, Romero pulled off the upset over Ryan Garcia by dropping him in round two on his way to a unanimous decision victory that earned him the WBA title.
As he heads into another career-defining bout, Romero gives much of the credit to his trainer, the famed Ismael Salas, who invoked a game plan that completely shut out Garcia’s usually prolific power-punching.
“To me, Salas is the greatest trainer of all time,” said Romero, who’s had Salas in his corner for his last three bouts. “Who has won world titles with more fighters than Salas? He doesn’t ever get the flowers he deserves when they bring up Trainer of the Year.
“We’ve always had good chemistry together, like peanut butter and jelly. Salas knows exactly how to train me and what we need to work on to get the win. On August 22, we’re going to prove to everybody why nobody should ever bet against us again.”
In Lopez, Romero is faced with an opponent who has equal his experience in big fights, having stepped in for marquee matchups against Shakur Stevenson, Vasily Lomachenko and Josh Taylor throughout his own world title runs at 135 and 140 pounds. With each fighter bringing top-level pedigree and fan-friendly styles, Romero believes August 22 shapes up to be a memorable night for this era of boxing.
This is going to be an action packed, Fight of the Year kind of fight,” said Romero. “Teo and I are always in entertaining fights. We’re the most entertaining fighters in the world. Definitely the best self-promoters in the world. Nobody can ever say we’re runners or we’re in boring fights like some of these other fighters y’all love to praise. We don’t run, we like to punch. And that’s what y’all can expect on August 22, the biggest fight of the year from the sport’s most entertaining fighters.”
The post Rolly Romero Training Camp Quotes & Photos appeared first on FightNews.
