Rolly Romero Reveals Teofimo Lopez's Life-Changing Gesture Years Before Title Fight Bout

Teofimo Lopez and Rolando 'Rolly' Romero might be enemies on Aug. 22, but that will not stop them from being lifelong brothers outside of the ring.

The welterweights are three weeks out from their 147-pound title fight, which will mark Romero's first defense of the WBA championship and Lopez's divisional debut. Despite the upcoming matchup, the fighters still agree they have a brotherly relationship, which 'Rolly' cemented by revealing how Lopez helped him out of a difficult financial spot in 2019.

During a joint sit-down interview, Romero thanked Lopez directly for giving him $5,000 unprompted when he was admittedly at rock bottom.

"I gotta say thank you to you, you helped me out a lot," Romero said, via DAZN Boxing. "Well, I remember after he beat [Masayoshi] Nakatani, I was in a bad place financially. I remember Teo gave me $5k out of nowhere. He just calls me randomly... That money did so much for me. I can't really say anything bad, you know?"

According to Romero, Lopez gave him the money shortly after his unanimous decision win over Masayoshi Nakatani in July 2019. At that time, Romero would have been three months removed from a knockout victory over Andres Figueroa to improve to 9-0.

The win over Nakatani shot Lopez directly into title contention, as he would go on to win the IBF lightweight title five months later. Romero was also undefeated at the time and considered an up-and-coming fighter in the same division, but it would take him another year before he received an interim title fight.

Teofimo Lopez challenges Rolly Romero for WBA welterweight title

Brotherhood aside, Romero and Lopez also agreed that their emotions will not follow them into the ring on Aug. 22. Both fighters desperately need a statement victory in their WBA welterweight title fight to remain on their championship trajectories.

WBA 'super' welterweight champion Rolando 'Rolly' Romero | IMAGO / Cover-Images

Despite being a year into his title reign, Romero will be making the walk for his first title defense. The 30-year-old has not fought since stunning the boxing world with a massive upset win over Ryan Garcia to win the belt in May 2025 at Times Square.

Lopez fought on the same Times Square card, where he defended the WBO and The Ring super lightweight titles against Arnold Barboza Jr. He went on to lose those belts to Shakur Stevenson in January, convincing him to make the move up to welterweight and attempt to become a three-division champion.

Lopez pulled a similar move after he lost his lightweight titles to George Kambosos Jr. in 2021 and embarked on a six-fight win streak at 140 pounds.

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