Catterall defeated Shakhram Giyasov on May 23 to get the WBA’s secondary welterweight belt. The organization then required Romero to face the winner within 180 days. Catterall maintains that the WBA has told him he is next and that promoter Eddie Hearn has written to WBA president Gilberto Mendoza requesting an immediate order.
Lopez’s legal team can argue that the original directive named Romero, but a mandatory requirement issued by a sanctioning body is not simply a private contract that binds only the two fighters named in it. The WBA committee can transfer the obligation, modify the deadline, or grant Lopez another fight. Until it makes that decision, Lopez cannot declare on his own that the process has restarted.
The new champion also cited the cut over his right eyebrow and his resulting medical suspension.
“I’m suspended by all commissions right now due to the cut over my right eye. Until I get my license back from the commission, we don’t need to talk about any mandatories at this particular time.”
That suspension prevents Teofimo from returning to the ring until he receives medical clearance. It does not prevent the WBA from confirming Catterall’s status or ordering negotiations for a later date.
Nobody is asking Lopez to defend the belt before the cut heals. The dispute concerns who receives his next defense after he is cleared. Catterall says the WBA has already given him that answer, while Lopez is trying to persuade the committee to give him a different one.
Mannix: Teofimo Lopez Knows Ryan Garcia Is Next
Chris Mannix says Teofimo Lopez and his team already know Ryan Garcia is likely to be his next opponent. Their confidence suggests they do not regard Jack Catterall’s mandatory WBA title consolidation as an obstacle that will stop the fight.
“Ryan Garcia is the name that is at the top of everybody’s list. Ryan Garcia is the name that Teofimo Lopez and his team know that they’re likely going to face,” Mannix said on his DAZN show with Sergio Mora. “In fact, win or lose this fight against Conor Benn, I think Ryan Garcia is going to be next for Teofimo.”
A Garcia victory over Benn on September 12 would allow Lopez to request permission for a WBA-WBC unification. The organization could authorize that fight, give Catterall another deadline and argue that consolidating championships took priority over immediately eliminating its own secondary title.
Losing to Benn would remove that justification. Garcia would no longer bring the WBC belt, leaving Lopez to choose a commercially valuable voluntary defense over a mandated consolidation. Allowing it would amount to the WBA discarding its order because Lopez found a more profitable opponent.
Catterall is not merely a contender waiting after winning an eliminator. He captured the WBA Regular welterweight title by defeating Shakhram Giyasov and was promised a fight against the primary champion within 180 days. Lopez inherited that obligation when he took the WBA title from Rolando Romero.
The sanctioning body must now decide how much its own order is worth. A Garcia unification would produce greater attention and a larger sanctioning fee, but another postponement would further reduce the value of holding its Regular title. Fighters are asked to compete for that belt, pay sanctioning fees and trust that victory will lead to the primary champion.
Lopez’s apparent freedom to plan around Catterall shows that commercial appeal may defeat enforcement. If the WBA permits Garcia to go first, especially after a loss to Benn, it will make itself look second-rate by showing that its orders apply only when champions have nothing richer available.
Matchroom Presses WBA To Force Teofimo Lopez vs. Jack Catterall
Jack Catterall confirmed Tuesday that Eddie Hearn and Matchroom sent a letter to the WBA in an attempt to get his title fight with Teofimo Lopez enforced.
“Letter was sent to them yesterday by Eddie and Matchroom,” Catterall posted on X in response to a supporter asking his team to act.
Catterall also revealed that WBA president Gilberto Mendoza personally promised him that the 180-day commitment would remain in place regardless of who held the Super title.
“When I met Gilberto Mendoza in Egypt, I shook his hand and he gave me his word if I beat Giyasov, someone who was avoided and waited for his shot for two years, I will get my shot within 180 days regardless who has the belt. So I believe the WBA will do the correct thing,” Catterall posted.
That account removes much of the uncertainty about what the WBA intended. Its published resolution named Rolando Romero, but its president allegedly told Catterall that the commitment followed the title. Lopez still has a technical argument based on the written wording, yet the WBA would have to break Mendoza’s personal promise to let him move on.
The dispute began after Lopez openly denied that Catterall was his mandatory during Monday’s Inside the Ring show. Lopez plans to pursue the three additional titles he needs to become the undisputed welterweight champion, beginning with the winner of Ryan Garcia versus Conor Benn on September 12.
That pursuit leaves no place for Catterall, but the secondary WBA champion has rejected the easiest negotiated solution.
“There’s not $1 that can persuade me to step aside to allow a unification bout to happen. I’m here to fight,” Catterall said.
His refusal means Matchroom cannot be paid to wait while Lopez pursues the Garcia vs. Benn winner. The WBA must enforce the consolidation fight, permit a unification first, or allow its two welterweight champions to remain separated.
The 180-day period expires on November 19, based on Catterall’s May 23 victory over Shakhram Giyasov. That leaves less than three months to settle the dispute. The cut Lopez suffered over his right eyebrow against Rolando Romero places more strain on the schedule, although there has been no indication that it will keep him out for an extended period.
Teofimo may believe the WBA will permit a unification to take priority over its internal consolidation fight. Sanctioning bodies regularly move mandatory obligations aside when champions pursue another belt, giving his team a stronger argument than the wording omission alone.
Catterall brings tactical risk with little financial reward. His awkward southpaw style and sharp counterpunching deny opponents clean offensive opportunities. Ryan Garcia, Conor Benn and Devin Haney generate massive paydays. Catterall brings no comparable commercial appeal, only a genuine threat to expose Lopez inside the ring.
WBA Loophole Gives Teofimo Lopez Easy Out On Jack Catterall
A review of the WBA’s published rulings supports part of Teofimo Lopez’s argument. No public order currently names Jack Catterall as the mandatory challenger for Lopez’s newly acquired Super welterweight title.
The May 21 ruling required Rolando Romero to face the Catterall-Shakhram Giyasov winner within 180 days. Its language named Romero specifically. It did not say the obligation would transfer to Romero’s successor if the title changed hands.
That omission gives Lopez a technical basis for denying that Catterall has been formally assigned to him. The WBA would need to issue another ruling, clarify that the original order followed the championship, or designate Catterall as Lopez’s challenger.
Teofimo still goes too far by claiming Catterall was lied to. The WBA sanctioned the Giyasov bout and publicly stated that its winner would receive Romero within 180 days. Catterall’s expectation came directly from the organization, not from an invented promise by his team.
The real issue is poor wording from the WBA. It created two champions and ordered them to meet, yet attached the obligation to Romero by name rather than clearly attaching it to the Super title. Lopez is now using that opening to pursue the Garcia-Benn winner while Catterall waits for the WBA to explain what its own ruling means.
Teofimo Lopez Denies Jack Catterall Mandatory Status
Teofimo Lopez claims Jack Catterall is not his WBA mandatory and says the British contender was lied to about his right to challenge for the welterweight title.
During today’s Inside the Ring show, Catterall confronted the new WBA champion after Lopez discussed facing the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn winner and eventually meeting Devin Haney for the undisputed championship.
“He’s not. He’s not my mandatory,” Lopez said when Catterall was identified as next in line. “By the sanctioning rules, he’s not my mandatory, and I think they lied. I think they lied to him.”
“It’s in the contract,” Catterall answered.
Teofimo’s denial conflicts with the WBA’s own published ruling. When the organization elevated Rolando Romero to Super champion in May, it sanctioned Catterall’s bout with Shakhram Giyasov for the vacant secondary title and stated that Romero had to face the winner within 180 days.
Catterall defeated Giyasov and now holds that belt. Lopez may argue that the ruling named Romero rather than whoever defeated him, or that no separate order has been issued since Saturday. Neither explanation supports his claim that Catterall was lied to. The WBA publicly connected the two titles and imposed a deadline for bringing them together.
The exchange became entertaining because Lopez tried to rewrite the situation while Catterall was on the screen looking directly at him. Rather than explain the supposed sanctioning rule, Teofimo declared that the obligation did not exist and blamed unnamed people for misleading Catterall.
After making that denial, the new champion returned to the familiar claim that he will face anyone.
“I’m always willing to fight anybody and everybody,” Lopez said.
“I’m glad you won on the weekend because I know you don’t duck nobody,” Catterall replied. “It would have been more difficult to get Rolly into the ring. I’m happy for you, but we’ve got to get it on.”
Catterall played the interaction perfectly. He congratulated Lopez, reminded him that Romero would have been harder to bring into the ring and declined to turn the conversation into a shouting match. That left Teofimo arguing against a contract he had not seen while Catterall calmly insisted the terms were already written down.
There was also some clever pressure inside Catterall’s praise. Telling Lopez, “I know you don’t duck nobody,” gave the champion little room to reject the fight without contradicting the reputation Catterall had just assigned to him.
The WBA now needs to explain the status of its own ruling. It can grant Lopez permission to pursue a unification, arrange a step-aside payment or order the title consolidation. What it cannot credibly do is remain silent while its new champion claims the other titleholder was fooled.
Lopez is clearly trying to look past the mandatory to chase the massive paydays against the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn winner or a unification with Devin Haney. Catterall holds the regular belt after beating Shakhram Giyasov, which, in standard WBA procedure, makes him the direct mandatory to unify the titles.
The Takeover vs El Gato? 👀
WBA welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez goes back and forth with ‘regular’ belt holder Jack Catterall on their standing with the sanctioning body 🏆#InsideTheRing | Latest episode available on DAZN 📺 pic.twitter.com/dQI6Yvmf6r
— InsideRingShow (@InsideRingShow) August 24, 2026
