Teófimo López has been given 10 days by the WBA's Championship Committee and the organisation's president, Gilberto Mendoza, to agree terms for a mandatory welterweight title defence against Jack Catterall, or the fight will go to a purse bid, an auction in which promoters bid for the right to stage it. The WBA has formally rejected an appeal from the American, who had sought a unification bout with WBC champion Ryan Garcia instead. López claimed the 147lb title in August with a points win over Rolando Romero, having suffered a heavy defeat to Shakur Stevenson at 140lb earlier in the year.
Catterall, the British fighter who lost a contentious decision to Josh Taylor in 2022, won the WBA Regular title by beating Shakhram Giyasov in May to reclaim his status as mandatory challenger. López's team are also considering vacating the belt so that a multimillion-dollar showdown with Garcia does not collapse, although without a title on the line the fight's financial and sporting appeal would drop sharply. Garcia, who won the WBC belt by beating Mario Barrios in February and defended it against Conor Benn in September, has named a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather as an alternative for the bout pencilled in for February 6.
