Romero hurt Lopez late in the fifth round and nearly sent the New York native to the canvas. Ultimately, Lopez survived and turned the fight in his favor in the second half en route to winning a majority decision on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to become the WBA welterweight champion.

The shaky moment was one Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) said he needed to push through against the hard-hitting Romero (17-3, 13 KOs) in his first fight at 147 pounds.

“It just woke me up, and I needed that,” Lopez told The Ring. “I needed those types of shots to wake me up and bite down on that mouthpiece and realize, ‘What am I doing this for?’ It's not to just get a check, but to become world champion.”

Lopez, 29, controlled the fight early on with his pressure and volume. Romero, who averaged just 29 punches thrown per round according to CompuBox, was more than apt to move and rarely engaged.

Romero, 30, doesn’t need to throw a lot to change the momentum of the fight, and the fifth perfectly illustrated that. The Las Vegas native cut Lopez with a left hand and rocked him with an overhand right.

Lopez held on and survived. It became a turning point, but in Lopez’s favor, as Romero failed to capitalize on his best moment. Lopez got back to pressing Romero and using his jab and body work to control him

“He said he was going to press me, so we're ready to fight,” Lopez said. “I think that was the whole thing. I'm not going to let this guy bully me, no matter how heavy his hands are. [At] 147, I want to show everyone that I'm here to take over.

“He's a champion. Look, they gave it a majority decision. It was almost a draw, and that's the reason why we pressed him tonight.”

Judge Tim Cheatham scored the fight 116-112 for Lopez, while Max DeLuca had it 115-113 for him. Judge Glenn Feldman scored it 114-114.

While the performance was what the doctor ordered for Lopez, he still believes there’s room for improvement. Regardless, the win has positioned him for big fights at 147 with potential unification bouts against WBC titleholder Ryan Garcia, should he get past Conor Benn on September 12, and WBO champion Devin Haney.

“Just throwing more punches [and] more combinations,” Lopez said. “I think that when I was in the corner, and I hear my trainers telling me these things, they see the same thing I'm seeing, but I'm being selective, right? Just because of the amount of power that Rolly does have, but I have to trust in my abilities. Every time I did throw, Rolly didn't have anything to answer with, so [I] just gotta trust my team more.”