Rolando "Rolly" Romero returns Saturday to defend his WBA welterweight title against Teofimo Lopez at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, his first fight in 15 months since upsetting Ryan Garcia in May 2025. Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) argues boxing is dying because fighters are overpaid for subpar matchups. "Stop overpaying fighters -- and that's coming from a fighter," he told ESPN.

Romero singled out Canelo Alvarez's reported $400 million Riyadh Season deal, criticizing the Mbilli bout as a cash grab instead of fighting David Benavidez. "Canelo's lost the last bit of respect he had as a boxer," Romero said. He also slammed the delayed Fury-Joshua fight and the unrealized Garcia-Haney rematch.

Romero believes his fight with Lopez -- a two-division champion moving up to 147 pounds -- exemplifies what boxing needs. "Thank God, Teo took this fight. I literally got ducked by everybody." He praised Lopez as a future Hall of Famer and offered candid assessments of welterweight contenders including Richardson Hitchins, Liam Paro, Brian Norman Jr., Shakur Stevenson, and Keyshawn Davis.