Teofimo Lopez On Fighting His Close Friend Rolly Romero, Keyshawn Davis Turning Down $3 Million Devin Haney Fight, & How ‘Disrespect’ From Dana White Led To Him Signing With DAZN (Interview)

Teofimo Lopez won’t let his friendship with Rolly Romero slow him down during their upcoming blockbuster fight.

On August 22nd, Lopez will make his 147-pound debut to take on his longtime friend, Rolly Romero, for the WBA welterweight championship on DAZN and Amazon Prime PPV.

𝗪𝗕𝗔 𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘! 🏆

The FIRST face-off between Rolly Romero and Teofimo Lopez ‼️#RollyTeofimo | Aug 22 | Live on DAZN and DAZN on Prime. ▪️ pic.twitter.com/JUxt8HLKA8

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 9, 2026

Ahead of the fight, we spoke with Lopez about his deal with DAZN, his fight against his friend, and his future goals.

Hey Teo, you were a free agent for a bit but decided to sign a massive, historic deal with DAZN. What made you sign with DAZN rather than with a traditional promoter?

Lopez: It’s a no-brainer, man. Honestly, DAZN is where it’s at. DAZN is bringing the sport back to its natural habitat, I would say. There’s a show probably every Saturday night. And with all the other major promoters linked to them, I think it only made my deal much sweeter, you know. DAZN is really focused on bringing the sport to the live audience out there and the entertainment aspect too. So I’m all up for it. It was just a great deal. I’m super excited and hyped about DAZN and what we’re gonna do moving forward after August 22nd.

There were rumors that you were interested in signing with Zuffa Boxing, but there was an awkward interaction between you and Dana White during a live stream; can you explain what happened?

Zuffa has a great strategy, don’t get me wrong. They have a great format on what they’re doing. They definitely have a big machine behind them, you know, and all those great things. However, I can only take so much disrespect. And I think with Dana and not Hunter Campbell, Hunter, he wrote to me afterwards— but I think Dana just walking past me at the Brand Risk promotion show that they had at the UFC Apex, I think that just kind of solidified my decision right there, when choosing Zuffa or DAZN. So, you know, I think that it’s only right. I always feel this thing with Dana. So I just trusted my gut, man. DAZN is where it’s at, and I look forward to seeing what we do next, how DAZN continues to improve. And at the best thing of it all, man, it’s TakeOver Promotions.

You’re facing off against 147-pound WBA champion Rolly Romero; what are your thoughts on him as a fighter?

Rolly is a tremendous athlete, man. He’s a fighter. And at the end of it all, man, he’s definitely a champion for a reason. He brings the fight to you. He comes to you. He doesn’t shy away from the smoke. And he’s always coming and trying to bring it his all. So he’s fought heavy, heavy, tough competitors in his career. And, you know, it hasn’t stopped, and it hasn’t slowed down for him since his win against Ryan Garcia. Now he’s facing Teofimo Lopez; he’s definitely someone with a lot of strengths, a lot of power. Feels great at that weight division, at the welterweight division. So we’re gonna have a great fight.

You and Rolly are good friends.  How do you separate your friendship with him and compartmentalize that when you’re facing off with him in the boxing ring?

Rolly doesn’t have a family. I got a family to come back home to. This is war. That’s really what it is, you know. He got no kids, he got no wife. I do, you know. And those are the things that I just think about, you know. Obviously you want to see him healthy when they leave the ring and all that stuff and all that great things, but as of right now, man, I gotta— I got a family to provide and to feed. Rolly only got himself and, so as far as like the friends and all that goes, uh, this is now just what, what it’s come to in the sport of boxing, you know,  from friends to foes. And now we’re about to show everybody, you know, what happens when that, when that occurs.

Your promotion, TakeOver Promotions, put in a $2.35 million purse bid for the Devin Haney-Keyshawn Davis fight. What was the reasoning behind that?

The reason behind it, I mean, we want to promote big fights, you know. We’re here to show everyone that we’re not just one of those signees that have a co-promotion on the banners and they don’t do anything other than that, you know. Takeover Promotions is a legitimate promotion. And we’re here to really show everyone that if you’re not on your A-game, we’re gonna be the ones to pick it up, you know. And I definitely support it. It’s a great fight. I mean, Haney versus Keyshawn Davis, I was surprised there was only two bidders, Takeover Promotions and Top Rank, but it came to that point. So, you know, just showing everyone we’re here to— we’re actually here to compete and be the next face of, of the top-tier promoters in the sport.

What are your thoughts on Keyshawn Davis turning down the fight against Devin Haney?

Missed opportunity. Yeah, missed opportunity. I think that there are too many people in his ear. When you’re going to purse bid, you probably expect to get less than what you were probably going to get in your guarantees. But I think he probably didn’t know that. As far as him being called the businessman, not really a good businessman.Just my assessment of it. I think that it was bad on his part, on his team. Maybe they go back and figure something out where they still make the Haney fight happen, but I think that ship has sailed.

Back to your fight, what can fans expect when you make your debut under your new DAZN deal?

Expect a grand arrival as far as a huge message that’s going to be sent out when it comes to my ring walk, expect just Teofimo taking over the division and leaving his mark on Rolly’s face. Yeah, that’s, that’s, uh, that’s what I could say about that. It’s gonna be a great fight. And more than anything, I think for anybody that cannot be here in Las Vegas, the fight capital of boxing, I say just watch it on DAZN. Get your pay-per-view now, and you guys will all love this, man. It’s gonna be a great show and a great fight. 2 competitors, 2 guys that know each other and that have shared the ring with each other. It’s only meant for it to be a great fight and a great night of boxing.

Finally, what are your future goals in boxing?

My goals are to become an undisputed welterweight world champion. That’s my goal, my goal at the end of this whole thing. My run is the road to undisputed, and the goal is to happen— for it to happen— by the time the 2028 Olympics come around. Yeah, that’s my goal.