WBA Reaffirms Lopez Must Face Catterall, Clouding a Feb. 6 Fight

The WBA has reaffirmed that Teofimo Lopez must make a mandatory defense against Jack Catterall, a decision that stands in the way of a two-belt unification with Ryan Garcia on Feb. 6.

WBA president Gilberto Mendoza posted the Championships Committee's ruling Wednesday afternoon, tagging the organization's official account. "Teofimo Lopez's reconsideration request was reviewed. His mandatory defense vs. Jack Catterall is reaffirmed," Mendoza wrote. "Both sides have 10 days to reach an agreement. Otherwise, either may request a purse bid."

As of this writing, the @WBABoxing account and the WBA's website have not posted a separate written release, and no copy has arrived in the Boxbid press inbox. EverythingBoxing reported the same terms shortly after Mendoza's post: the mandatory is reaffirmed, and the sides have 10 days to make a deal or the fight can go to purse bids.

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Lopez had asked the WBA to consider an exception so he could unify with Garcia, the WBC welterweight champion, instead of facing Catterall first. Today's ruling keeps that mandatory in force. A two-belt Garcia-Lopez fight on Feb. 6 is not approved. Lopez could still vacate the WBA title and fight Garcia without it, or the Feb. 6 date could go in another direction; recent talk has also tied Garcia to Floyd Mayweather, and none of that is signed.

The WBA has granted special permits in other cases. In October, it allowed super-flyweight champion David Jimenez a voluntary defense against Seigo Yuri Akui on Nov. 29, over the objection of mandatory challenger John Ramirez, with the winner required to face Ramirez within 120 days. Today's ruling did not grant Lopez that kind of exception.

The original order came on Sept. 22, with a 30-day negotiation window that closed Oct. 22. We laid out how that mandatory sat over the Feb. 6 talks in an earlier story. The unsigned Feb. 6 chatter, including Garcia's Mayweather comments, is in the Whisperer's Nov. 10 and Nov. 11 items, and Mayweather's own 2027 name-drop is in Kimster's Nov. 10 report.

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.