Lopez Managers Dispute WBA Finding on Garcia Request, Plan Appeal

Teofimo Lopez's managers say the World Boxing Association failed to acknowledge a Nov. 5 letter asking permission to unify with WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia — and that they plan to appeal Wednesday's ruling that Lopez must first make a mandatory defense against Jack Catterall.

The WBA's written resolution, published Wednesday, takes a different view of the paperwork. It says unifications can be considered under Rule C.39, but that "as of the date of this decision, Lopez's team had not submitted a formal request for special permission to pursue a unification bout." The two accounts now sit side by side. This is a dispute over whether a formal special-permit request was on file, not a new WBA order.

As of this publication, no appeal had been publicly filed, and the WBA had not issued a public response to the managers' description of the Nov. 5 letter. Lopez had not vacated the belt.

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Dan Rafael, citing managers Keith Connolly and Mike Borao, reported that the WBA "failed to acknowledge" the Nov. 5 letter "directly requesting permission" to fight Garcia, even as the resolution said Lopez did not ask for permission. "Teofimo still looks to unify," Rafael added, attributing that stance to the camp.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, citing sources, reported that Lopez plans to appeal the ruling. Lopez's team told SI it filed a request on Nov. 5 for permission to unify with Garcia, and Mannix wrote that SI reviewed a copy of that request. There was no standalone SI article posted at the time of writing; the reporting appeared on Mannix's X account and was carried by BoxingNews24.

The WBA resolution, dated Nov. 11, says the Championships Committee reviewed a request for reconsideration filed Oct. 2 and a defense of the original order from Catterall's promoter, Matchroom. The Nov. 11 decision itself was based on Rule C.17 Super Champion criteria. The committee noted that a special permit under Rule C.39 is the path for considering a unification with another sanctioning body, then stated that no formal request of that kind was on file as of the decision date.

That is the heart of the disagreement. Connolly and Borao, through Rafael, describe the Nov. 5 letter as a direct request for permission to unify. The WBA draws a line between the October reconsideration of the Catterall order and a formal C.39 special-permit filing, and says only the former was submitted. Sports Illustrated's review of a copy of the Nov. 5 request confirms that a document exists; it does not, by itself, settle whether the WBA treated that letter as a formal C.39 application. We are not in a position to adjudicate the filing.

Under the resolution, the parties have 10 calendar days from its issuance to submit an agreement that would allow the mandatory bout to take place, or to propose an alternative arrangement. If they do not, or if either side declines to negotiate, either may request a purse bid.

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The Catterall mandate is not new. The WBA first ordered the Super and Regular welterweight champions to come to terms in September, then, as we reported Wednesday, president Gilberto Mendoza reaffirmed the mandatory after Lopez's camp sought an exception. The written ruling now fills in the rule citations, the Oct. 2 reconsideration, and the special-permit finding that Mendoza's earlier post left out. The same day, the WBA also ordered Floyd Schofield to make his first mandatory lightweight defense against Jose "Rayo" Valenzuela — a reminder that Wednesday was a busy mandatory day at the sanctioning body.

Background on the camp's earlier approach comes from BoxingScene, which reported that Lopez's team had already petitioned the WBA for a Garcia unification. Connolly told BoxingScene that talks with Garcia had "advanced significantly" for the first quarter of 2027 and that the camp had put legal paperwork in and been told the WBA would consider an exception. That earlier petition is useful context; it is not, on the public record, the same document as the Nov. 5 letter.

A Feb. 6 date has been floated for a Garcia fight, but nothing is signed. Garcia himself has said he is looking at Floyd Mayweather Jr. for that date, which we covered in a Ringside Whisperer item. The WBA clock and the unresolved paperwork dispute are now part of that picture. In a separate post earlier Wednesday, Rafael wrote that Lopez is "likely to take the MUCH bigger money to fight Garcia anyway and vacate." That is Rafael's opinion, not a statement from Lopez's managers or the WBA, and it should be read that way. The managers, in the later account Rafael attributed to them, said Lopez still looks to unify — not that he is giving up the belt.

No Lopez-Catterall or Garcia-Lopez fight has been signed or announced. Once a bout is booked, you can log a pick in Fight Picker.