Hearn: 'I Would Sue Them Immediately' If WBA Lets Lopez Keep the Belt for Garcia

Label: REPORTED · Heat: WARM. This is a threat made on a show, not a lawsuit. Nothing has been filed. BoxingNews24 quotes Eddie Hearn, speaking on DAZN's Inside the Ring, on what he would do if the WBA let Teófimo López keep the welterweight belt and fight Ryan García ahead of mandatory Jack Catterall: "I would sue them immediately."

That line is BN24's quotation of the show. It is not in the DAZN Boxing post caption, and we have not independently transcribed the clip. DAZN captioned the same-show clip as Hearn and Mike Coppinger going "back and fourth discussing Zuffa" — that typo is DAZN's, and that caption does not mention a lawsuit.

BoxingNews24 posted the piece under the headline "Hearn Threatens to Sue WBA Over Jack Catterall Mandatory." We are treating this as a threat, not as a case that has been filed.

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It also does not undo the WBA's existing order, already in 309, or the appeal plan already in 313. BN24 writes that Hearn "expects Lopez to give up the title if the WBA holds him to the mandatory," and that if Lopez gives up the belt to face Garcia for the WBC title, "Hearn expects the WBA to elevate Catterall from its secondary champion and let him make a defense." Those expect-and-elevate lines are BN24's paraphrase of Hearn, not verbatim quotes, and they are not a WBA ruling.

BN24 also reports that Coppinger said on the same show "that Lopez's team was trying to finalize a February 6 fight with Garcia." That is BN24's paraphrase of Coppinger, and it is consistent with what Coppinger had already posted in 324 — still not done, still not signed, and still not an override of the mandatory.

Fighter pages: Teófimo López, Jack Catterall, Ryan García.

If a purse ever does get posted for Lopez–Garcia or Lopez–Catterall, take a swing at Guess the Purse. Until then, the welterweight date already official on the calendar is Haney–Paro — log a pick in Fight Picks.

Would a lawsuit threat actually move the WBA, or does Lopez just drop the belt and go hunting Garcia? Tell us in the comments.

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