One judge scores the welterweight title fight even after Romero hurts and cuts Lopez during a damaging fifth round.
Rolando “Rolly” Romero rejected the majority decision that cost him his WBA welterweight championship Saturday night in Las Vegas. Teofimo Lopez prevailed 115-113 and 116-112 on two cards while the third judge scored their 12-round fight 114-114, giving Lopez a world championship in a third weight division.
Romero’s argument rests largely on who landed the punches that did the most damage.
He produced the fight’s clearest breakthrough in round five. Romero cut Lopez over the right eye, then hurt him with a left hook and looping right before pressing forward looking for the finish.
Lopez weathered it. Romero never found the final punch.
That distinction ultimately proved costly.
Romero disputed the scoring immediately afterward and dismissed the idea that Lopez had seriously troubled him.
“I got hit with two punches the whole fight that barely grazed me. I was never in any trouble. When I heard 114-114 I knew it was a robbery.”
The numbers tell another part of the fight.
CompuBox credited Lopez with a 124-73 advantage in total punches landed. His jab supplied much of that difference, connecting 62 times for a career high while Romero failed to land double-digit punches in every round except the fifth.
Lopez’s feet also forced Romero to continually rebuild his position before punching. Once Lopez recovered from the fifth, he spent longer stretches dictating the distance rather than exchanging where Romero carried the greater threat.
Romero still found him again.
A left hook late in the 11th knocked Lopez off balance and gave Romero another strong moment entering the championship round. He could not produce enough consistent work around those breakthroughs to convince two judges.
Lopez described his approach in simpler terms afterward.
“I just had to stay busy and keep my range against a strong puncher. I’m just looking forward to the next thing.”
That is the argument Romero now has to live with. He landed some of the night’s most damaging punches, while Lopez banked rounds with the jab, movement and higher output.
Romero had the openings to take the verdict out of the judges’ hands. He hurt Lopez in the fifth and caught him again in the 11th, but neither attack became a finish. Against a fighter banking rounds behind 62 landed jabs, isolated power shots leave too much arithmetic for three judges.
