Former undisputed champion Antonio Tarver has considered the keys to victory, while also offering a prediction, for both Teofimo Lopez and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.

The pair will collide at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in the early hours of tomorrow morning, with Romero making a first defence of his WBA world title.

He was upgraded to full welterweight champion last year, having claimed the ‘regular’ belt by dropping and unanimously outpointing Ryan Garcia in May 2025.

After that, Rolly had been in talks with Devin Haney and Conor Benn, only to incur over a year of inactivity and agree to face Lopez instead.

Entering their showdown as a slight favourite, ‘The Takeover’ has moved up to 147lbs and is bidding to become a three-weight world champion.

Unlike Romero, though, Lopez is coming off a surprisingly one-sided points defeat to Shakur Stevensonwho dethroned him for the WBO super-lightweight title in January.

It is therefore difficult to predict which version of the 29-year-old will turn up, yet Hall of Famer Tarver has nonetheless told Fight Hub TV that he is backing Lopez.

“[it will be] high volume if Teo looks to win this thing impressively. He’s going to have to let his hands go, and Rolly’s going to have to try and catch him in the mix of all that.

“I don’t think Rolly can outbox Teo round after round; I think Rolly has to do something big – hurt him with something, knock him down and maybe even stop him.

“Smart money [is on Lopez]. It’s difficult to have your way with [Romero]; you have to be somewhat of a real, elite fighter. We still believe Teo, at his best, has those types of attributes.”

Many would agree that a points decision is Lopez’ clearest route to victory, while Romero may need to make use of his power and engineer an inside-the-distance finish.

Evander Holyfield was unsure who to favour in a fantasy showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and one of his former rivals.

Like Holyfield, Usyk became the consensus top dog at 200lbs before moving up to heavyweight and, once again, cementing himself as the very best.

Even while contending with a notable size disadvantage, the Ukrainian was able to dethrone Anthony Joshua before eventually becoming the undisputed king against Tyson Fury.

Having twice beaten the two Brits, Usyk is now widely regarded as one of the all-time greats, among the likes of HolyfieldMuhammad Ali and Joe Louis.

At the same time, though, Holyfield is not convinced that the unbeaten southpaw would have defeated a prime Mike Tyson.

‘The Real Deal’ fought ‘Iron’ Mike in 1996, causing a sizable upset by stopping the formidable puncher in round 11, before winning their immediate rematch via an infamous third-round disqualification.

And while this was not even the most formidable version of Tyson, Holyfield would nonetheless back his former foe to defeat the majority of heavyweights throughout history.

When it comes to a clash with Usyk, however, the American has told Daily Mail Boxing that he would struggle to predict a winner.

“I don’t exactly know [who would win] that one.”

Like Usyk, Tyson was never the biggest heavyweight but, because of his speed and explosiveness he was able to win his first 19 fights by knockout and become a dominant world champion during the late 1980s.

Usyk, on the other hand, relies more on his technical prowess and, against Tyson, would need to be almost punch-perfect in order to emerge victorious.

Ryan Garcia has named the fighter that he believes can put an end to Shakur Stevenson’s 25-fight undefeated record.

Stevenson stepped up in weight to dominate Teofimo Lopez and claim the WBO super-lightweight title back in Januaryfully intending on returning to his natural lightweight division during the aftermath, until those plans were derailed when he was stripped of his 135lb title.

As a result, Stevenson has kept hold of his 140lb marble but has not fought since, despite links to a showdown with Garcia in spring, which collapsed when the Newark southpaw declared that he would not be willing to move up in weight once again.

Now, Garcia is scheduled to face Conor Benn next month, whilst Stevenson has recently signed with Zuffa Boxing and is searching for an opponent for his second outing of 2026.

Speaking to FightHypeGarcia revealed that he would favour IBF lightweight world champion Raymond Muratalla to come out on top if he and Stevenson collide.

“That would be a good a** fight. He [Muratalla] is smart, he is not going to just go in there and just [be reckless].

“I just think that Raymond has a lot of things that would give Shakur problems. It won’t be an easy fight for Shakur, that is for sure.

“[If it was] a three-round fight, I would give it to Shakur, even a six-round fight. A 12-round fight? I am siding with Muratalla.”

Muratalla is set to vacate his IBF crown and move into the super-lightweight division imminently, with the WBO having recently stated that he could be named as Stevenson’s mandatory challenger when he does.