“I was ringside on the call, and the first thing that stood out to me was, ‘Wow, Rolly looks good at 147,’” Coppinger said to Ring Magazine about Rolly. “He had big legs. He filled out very well.”
Coppinger believes Romero’s previous performances at 140 pounds may have unfairly shaped his reputation.
“I think when Rolly gets downgraded, and maybe he gets underrated, is because he looked bad against Pitbull. Pitbull beat him up and stopped him at 140, and he also did not look good against Ismael Barroso,” Coppinger said. “So maybe he’s a new fighter now. Maybe the weight, maybe it’s something, but we’re going to find out in this fight which one it is.”
Host Max Kellerman agreed with the assessment, arguing that modern weigh-in rules have encouraged many fighters to compete below their natural weight.
“I never saw Rolly look better than he did in his welterweight debut. Maybe he was fighting in the wrong division,” Kellerman said.
Rolly (17-2, 13 KOs) enters the fight after upsetting Ryan Garcia in his welterweight debut, while Teofimo (22-2, 13 KOs) is looking to rebound from his unanimous decision loss to Shakur last January. Their August 22 meeting will be Teofimo’s first fight at welterweight and could determine whether Romero’s success at 147 pounds was the start of a new chapter or simply a one-fight resurgence.
Coppinger’s point is more significant than it may first appear. Rolly has often been judged by his losses at 140 and 135, but if the weight cut was limiting him physically, Teofimo could be facing a much stronger and more durable opponent than many expect. A convincing win would strengthen the argument that Romero has found his natural division at welterweight.
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