Putting his momentous loss to Shakur Stevenson this past January behind him, Teofimo Lopez finally became a champion in a third weight class. Scripting a new chapter in his career, “The Takeover,” outpointed Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero to a majority decision and became the WBA welterweight champion.
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The feat, however, did not come without controversy. Despite delivering a strong performance, he couldn’t secure the clear-cut win against Romero. Two of the three judges favored him, but only by narrow margins. The third scored the fight a draw, leaving Lopez with a majority decision win. Against that backdrop, while he may have accepted the result, fans and several prominent figures like Claressa Shields appeared to take issue with the scoring.
“These judges better not pull no bullsh-t tonight! Teo won this fight clearly! Skills! His bodywork, jabs, and right hands were good!!!!” wrote Shields.
Soon former super featherweight champion Lamont Roach joined the discussion.
“You here? Omm Rolly was going off his sh-t the first 4 and boxing,” Roach said, before adding, “Teo came back with his activity late… but Rolly was boxing good the first half. That’s why it was majority.”
These judges better not pull no bullsh!t tonight! Teo won this fight clearly! Skills! His body work, jabs, and right hands were good!!!!
In a way, that summarizes how Lopez vs. Rolly unfolded tonight. It was a competitive duel that saw both Lopez and Romero having strong moments in the early rounds. The former found success with body shots and jabs. Romero, meanwhile, landed clean punches and hurt Lopez in the fifth round with a big left.
The story, however, changed from the sixth round onward. Rebounding from the setbacks that left him with a deep cut above his right eye, Lopez gradually started taking control by going at the champion’s body. Lopez had one of his best performances, throwing a career-high number of jabs.
In the end, out of the three judges, two, Tim Cheatham and Max Deluca, scored it in his favor, 116-112 and 115-113, respectively. However, the third judge, Glen Feldman, saw it differently, scoring it 114-114.
Several prominent boxing figures and fans were, however, not convinced by the scorecards.
Josh Taylor: “Those scorecards were absolutely ridiculous!
Sergio Mora: “And surprisingly, judges still saw it close!”
T. Stella: “A draw is CRAZY from that judge, lmfao.”
Francisco A. Salazar: “12 rounds in the books. Barring three blind mice (the judges) or an agenda, Teofimo Lopez should be the winner. I have him winning 118-110 over Rolly… #boxing #RollyTeofimo.
A Fan: “Judging this evening was a joke; the fight was not even close. Rolling had one or two rounds max.”