Rolly Romero and Teofimo Lopez reflect on friendship ahead of title fight

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 9: Rolly Romero and Teofimo Lopez shake hands during the press conference to announce their fight on July 9, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Melina Pizano/Getty Images) | Getty Images Reigning WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero sits down with upcoming opponent Teofimo Lopez to discuss their August 22 title fight, their friendship, and what that all means now that they’ll be squaring off in the ring against one another. Here’s some excerpts of what both had to say with the full video interview in the link at the top. Rolly on how he’d describe his relationship with Teofimo “He’s like my little brother. We spent a lot of time together, a lot of time. Not as of recently but we did spend a lot of time. Life does go on. He has his family, he has his kids, everything, I’m focusing on my own stuff.” Teofimo on if he ever thought he’d be fighting Rolly “We spoke on it…but we’re here. He’s the champ, and I want to thank the champ for giving me the opportunity to get in the ring with him and try to take over.” Rolly on fighting Teofimo “I got to say thank you, too. You helped me out a lot, and you know how you helped me out a lot. I remember after he beat Nakatani, I remember I was in a bad place financially, I remember Teo gave me $5k out of nowhere. He just calls me randomly…out of nowhere he just sends me $5k. That money did so much for me. I can’t really say anything bad, you know.” Rolly on whether it will be hard to try to hurt a friend “A boxing fight’s a boxing fight. A sparring session’s a sparring session…Whatever happens is what God’s will is. If it’s God’s will, Teofimo will be world champion. If it’s God’s will, I will remain champion, continue on with my legacy, too.” Teofimo on what he remembers from sparring Rolly “One thing I remember about Rolly is he doesn’t quit. And those damn elbows. But other than that he’s grown, he’s done much better now in his career. So this is definitely not a walk in the park for me. “Don’t sleep on this motherf-cker. He’s playing this other character right now. For sure…And now he’s the super WBA world champion, he is the guy, and looking over here to do what I can on my side and just make boxing great again.” Rolly on Teofimo’s performance against Shakur Stevenson “Teo shouldn’t have been at that weight class no more. He’s a welterweight. That’s that.” Teofimo on whether he’s concerned about getting elbowed from Rolly “It’s a fight, man. I know in the past I’ve said certain things but I try to stick to the rules of the sport. But whatever happens that night, happens. I just got to be aware. He’s a smart individual and his inside game is pretty good. So just all those things we just got to train and perfect.” Teofimo’s general thoughts on fighting Rolly “You’re setting a good example right now. What you did right now is took the fight knowing the past over 10 years of a relationship of friendship in boxing and you’re putting it on display on August 22 to show the world ‘yes, we can be friends but when it comes to boxing and business you got to make the fights happen no matter what.’” Rolly on why he didn’t make the fight with Devin Haney “Dude, are you really asking me that question? So we sent him an offer, he said it was a lucrative offer that made sense for him and his team, stalled it out for a whole month and then literally said we ducked him and out-priced ourselves after he said we gave him a lucrative offer.” Rolly on what this fight represents “This is a legacy fight for both of us. I believe Teo is already in the Hall of Fame…It will solidify me in the Hall of Fame, for sure.”

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Teofimo Lopez and Rolly Romero discuss their upcoming title fight.