Teofimo Lopez Beats Rolando Romero By Majority Decision To Win WBA Welterweight Title

Teofimo Lopez has another belt and another weight division on his résumé, but Rolando Romero made him work the full twelve rounds to get it.

Lopez took a majority decision over Romero in the welterweight main event in Las Vegas, with two judges giving Lopez the fight and the third scoring it even. Elsewhere, Gary Antonio Russell dominated Victor Santillan, while Marco Romero produced the quickest and most emphatic finish of the night.

Teofimo Lopez Takes Majority Decision Over Rolando Romero

Teofimo Lopez (23-2-0) beat Rolando Romero (17-3-0) by majority decision after twelve rounds to take the WBA welterweight title.

Lopez came into the fight moving up in weight, and Romero was never going to be the easiest man to look tidy against. Lopez had to push the fight and find his way through Romero’s awkwardness, but over twelve rounds he did enough for two of the three judges.

Tim Cheatham scored it 116-112 for Lopez and Max DeLuca had it 115-113, while Glenn Feldman saw a 114-114 draw. That was enough to give Lopez the majority decision and move his record to 23-2-0.

It wasn’t a runaway on the official cards, but it was another significant result for Lopez. New division, new champion.

 

Gary Antonio Russell Dominates Victor Santillan

Gary Antonio Russell (22-1-0) was a much clearer winner against Victor Santillan (16-3-0), taking a unanimous decision after twelve rounds.

The scorecards tell the story: 118-109 for Max DeLuca and identical 119-108 scores from John McCarthy and Don Trella. Russell also dropped Santillan in the twelfth round to put an exclamation mark on a very convincing win.

 

Yoenli Hernandez Gets Past Francisco Daniel Veron

Yoenli Hernandez kept his unbeaten record intact, moving to 11-0-0 with a majority-decision victory over Francisco Daniel Veron (17-2-1) after ten rounds.

The scoring was unusual. Eric Cheek had Hernandez comfortably ahead at 99-91 and David Sutherland scored it 98-92, while Steve Weisfeld saw the contest even at 95-95. Hernandez still got the result, but Veron certainly gave him something more to think about than his perfect record might suggest.

 

Undercard

Carlos Utria (15-0-0) stayed unbeaten with a split-decision win over Israel Mercado (13-2-2) after ten rounds at super lightweight. Patricia Morse Jarman scored it 97-93 and Chris Migliore 96-94 for Utria, while Steve Weisfeld had Mercado winning 96-94. A close one on paper and certainly not a comfortable addition to Utria’s unbeaten record.

 

 

Marco Romero (15-0-0) didn’t need the judges. He stopped Kahlil Mitchell (6-2-0) by TKO at 2:33 of the opening round. Short night, big statement, and Romero’s unbeaten record moves on.

Welterweight Benjamin Johnson (8-0-0) handled business against Jose Gabriel Rodriguez (4-4-1), winning on points after six rounds to maintain his unbeaten start.

Joseph Brown improved to 8-0-0 with a unanimous-decision victory over Alton Wiggins (3-3-1) after six rounds at super welterweight. There wasn’t much debate here: Kermit Bayless, Glenn Feldman and David Sutherland all scored it 60-54 for Brown.

Opening the card, Aldo Blancas (3-0-0) outpointed Ricky Mamone (0-1-1) by unanimous decision over four rounds. Blancas dropped Mamone in round two and took scorecards of 39-36, 39-36 and 40-35.

Lopez leaves Las Vegas with the headline result and a welterweight title, while Russell’s wide decision and Marco Romero’s first-round demolition gave the undercard its two clearest statements.

Prelims