Former undisputed champion Antonio Tarver has considered the keys to victory, while also offering a prediction, for both Teofimo Lopez and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
The pair will collide at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in the early hours of tomorrow morning, with Romero making a first defence of his WBA world title.
He was upgraded to full welterweight champion last year, having claimed the ‘regular’ belt by dropping and unanimously outpointing Ryan Garcia in May 2025.
After that, Rolly had been in talks with Devin Haney and Conor Benn, only to incur over a year of inactivity and agree to face Lopez instead.
Entering their showdown as a slight favourite, ‘The Takeover’ has moved up to 147lbs and is bidding to become a three-weight world champion.
Unlike Romero, though, Lopez is coming off a surprisingly one-sided points defeat to Shakur Stevenson, who dethroned him for the WBO super-lightweight title in January.
It is therefore difficult to predict which version of the 29-year-old will turn up, yet Hall of Famer Tarver has nonetheless told Fight Hub TV that he is backing Lopez.
“[it will be] high volume if Teo looks to win this thing impressively. He’s going to have to let his hands go, and Rolly’s going to have to try and catch him in the mix of all that.
“I don’t think Rolly can outbox Teo round after round; I think Rolly has to do something big – hurt him with something, knock him down and maybe even stop him.
“Smart money [is on Lopez]. It’s difficult to have your way with [Romero]; you have to be somewhat of a real, elite fighter. We still believe Teo, at his best, has those types of attributes.”
Many would agree that a points decision is Lopez’ clearest route to victory, while Romero may need to make use of his power and engineer an inside-the-distance finish.
