Appearing on last week's Nikita Tszyu-Ben Mahoney broadcast, the IBF welterweight champion accepted he's itching for some fight news but uncertain when the first title defense will come.

"I wish I knew, there's been a lot of talks but after watching Teofimo the other night ... I was always confident I could beat him but that [display] put the cherry on top," he said.

Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) returned to winning ways with a 12-round majority decision nod over friend and former sparring partner Romero, though it was a largely underwhelming watch on his 147-pound debut.

Lopez outlanded Romero 124-to-73 in total punches, connecting on 23.4 percent of his shots according to CompuBox. Despite setting a career-high 62 jabs, the three-division titleholder still looked defensively vulnerable.

That much was exacerbated when Romero wobbled him with a counter right in the fifth round, though the champion's infrequent waves of attack were punished down the stretch. Lopez swept the final five rounds on all but one judge's scorecard to secure a share of the welterweight hardware.

"I want him [Teofimo] in a unification fight, it makes sense," Paro continued.

"There were talks of Haney but it was just clickbait on social media, we know the Yanks love to blabber on socials. I'm not about that, I love to fight. I've proved that throughout my career, if Haney wants it, send us a contract and give us a number [financial purse offer] to work with. They all can have it, I want them all."

WBO champion Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) was slated to make his first title defense against Keyshawn Davis on October 3, before the former 135-pound titleholder withdrew following last month's televised purse bid.

The Ring's No. 1 welterweight has been linked with WBA 'regular' champion Jack Catterall and a Paro unification in the weeks since then, though nothing is finalized.

No Limit Boxing chief George Rose said: "We're progressing with everyone, every champion is a massive fight. I'm excited for what lies ahead, got to control myself because we're heavy in conversations with a few different people, don't want to say anything silly but we've got some good news coming not far away."

"Working with Paro is an absolute dream because where most people would say they want to protect their belt and not fight these guys, he does not shy away from him. You give him a name, he asks what's the date?"

Paro boxed well early and weathered a late assault to dethrone Northern Ireland's Lewis Crocker (22-1, 11 KOs) in Brisbane on June 24, becoming Australia's second two-division champion after Hall of Famer Jeff Fenech in 1987.

30-year-old Paro (28-1, 16 KOs) dismissed a domestic duel with former unified lightweight champ George Kambosos, while possible foe Manny Pacquiao shared a video doing road work in his native Philippines on Monday.

WBC titleholder Ryan Garcia makes his first title defense on September 12 against Britain's divisive contender Conor Benn and naturally, that marquee matchup will be another he monitors.