Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) outworked Rolando “Rolly” Romero to win a 12-round majority decision and become the WBA welterweight champion at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Lopez’s defeat of Romero (17-3, 13 KOs) headlined a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view card distributed by DAZN and Amazon Prime Video.

Judge Tim Cheatham scored the fight 116-112 for Lopez, while Max DeLuca had it 115-113 for the newly crowned champ. Judge Glenn Feldman scored the fight a draw at 114-114.

“If you lose and you come back, you never lost, because you’re a winner,” Lopez told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in his post-fight interview. “I’m a winner. I’m a true example of what winning is. It ain’t about losing; it’s about never giving up. The scorecard, I couldn’t care less because at the end we got victory.”

Lopez responded well to his one-sided points loss to Shakur Stevenson in his previous fight. Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs), a four-division champ who is ranked No. 3 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, won The Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles from Lopez in the main event of “The Ring 6” on January 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Lopez, also a former Ring lightweight champ, moved up to the welterweight limit of 147 pounds to challenge Romero after Stevenson defeated him.

Lopez’s advantage in skill and speed proved evident early on, as he frequently found the target, particularly with his jab and right hand to the body around Romero’s left elbow. The heavy-handed Romero’s lack of activity proved costly, especially in the second half of the fight.

Romero, 30, wasn’t without his moments, though.

In the fifth round, the Las Vegas native cut Lopez over his right eye with what appeared to be a left hook. Romero rocked the Brooklyn native late in the round with an overhand right, which forced Lopez to hold on until the bell.

Lopez, 29, said he was just buzzed, though he acknowledged that his legs may have told a different story.

“There was a shot that he hit me with where it woke me up, and I told him right there, ‘You got to do better than that,’ ” Lopez said. “I just kept saying, ‘You ain’t gonna take me out. It’s not that easy.’ ”

Lopez took back control of the fight in the sixth round. Outside of appearing to be hurt by a check hook from Romero at the end of the seventh round, Lopez’s volume and aggression paved the way to a clear decision victory that felt wider than the official scorecards suggested.

Romero was content to move rather than pressing the action as the fight slipped from his grasp with each passing round.

“I expected something similar to this,” Lopez said of facing Romero, a friend he would just as soon not have fought. “Just a little more combinations from Rolly’s side, but he was just calculating and staying composed [and] listening to the instructions in his corner. We had to go and push the fight if need be.”

Ismael Salas, Romero’s trainer, implored the former champion to follow his instructions more than he did.

Lopez out-landed Romero 124 to 73 in total punches and was more efficient, landing 23.4 percent of his shots compared to Romero’s 20.7 percent, according to CompuBox. Lopez set career highs with 62 jabs and landed 32 percent of his power shots (62 of 179).

Romero landed 49 of 167 power shots and 24 of 185 jabs. He averaged just 29 punches thrown per round.

Romero fought for the first time since May 2025, when he upset Ryan Garcia by unanimous decision to win a secondary WBA welterweight title. He was later elevated to full champion after Jaron “Boots” Ennis moved up to 154 pounds and relinquished the belt.