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Rolando “Rolly” Romero, who holds the WBA welterweight title, and former junior welterweight and lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez are friends.
They are more than just boxing acquaintances as many friendly fighters are. They are good friends from their years of both living in Las Vegas and having sparred many rounds with each other.
Romero refers to Lopez as “my little brother” and as Lopez put it, “We know each other enough to know what triggers us. We know secrets possibly that people don’t know.”
But boxing is also a business and millions of dollars and legacies are on the line. So while Romero and Lopez have enjoyed a mostly friendly and complimentary build-up — though, as expected, tensions have flared at least a little — they will put their bond on hold when they square off in the headliner of a PBC pay-per-view card on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, DAZN PPV, Prime Video PPV, $79.99) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You ever punch someone you loved in the face? If they give me a hundred million dollars I’ll punch my dad in the face right now,” Romero said this week. “The friendship doesn’t matter to me at all when the bell rings.”
Lopez agreed.
“Saturday night friendship goes out the window. This is about the dream of being the best in the sport. We’re here to put on a show.”
But the friendship is hard to ignore given how deep it has been.
Romero credits Lopez’s unsolicited gift of $5,000 to help him when was in dire financial straits in 2019 — three years before Romero began making significant money — as a life-saver. Romero hasn’t forgotten what Lopez did for him even though he was still months away from winning his first world title and also not making big money yet.
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