WBA Orders Teofimo Lopez's Next Fight

Teofimo Lopez appears aligned to unify his WBA welterweight title with another divisional champion, just not one fans have been clamoring for.

The three-division champion claimed the WBA 'super' welterweight belt with a majority decision win over Rolando 'Rolly' Romero in August. As the newest 147-pound champion, Lopez is now slated to cement his status in the division against another titleholder.

Lopez was ordered to defend and unify his title with WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Jack Catterall on Tuesday. The two teams have until Oct. 22 to come to a deal before the fight goes to purse bids.

The mandate came as expected, with Lopez and Catterall serving as the WBA's two welterweight champions. The organization created its second divisional title by promoting Romero to 'super' champion in May to sanction Catterall's last fight with Shakhram Giyasov as a title fight.

Since Lopez's win over Romero, fans have been expecting 'The Takeover' to unify his title against either Ryan Garcia or Devin Haney, the two biggest stars in the division. Instead, the 29-year-old appeared slated to keep his title in-house and cement himself as the WBA welterweight champion.

Teofimo Lopez, Jack Catterall slated to unify WBA titles

Both sides still have to sign for the fight to proceed, but Lopez now appears locked into a title unification bout with Catterall. Despite not being as big of a name as Garcia or Haney, Catterall has been a staple atop the super lightweight and welterweight divisions for years and could be the 'super' champion's toughest test to date.

Catterall's unanimous decision win over Giyasov in May increased his win streak to three while improving his overall record to 33-2. The victory also gave him his first official world title after years of falling just short of gold,

Catterall entered his matchup against the then-undefeated Giyasov with a 0-2 record in his previous two title fights, a pair of split decision losses to Josh Taylor in 2022 and Arnold Barboza Jr. in 2025. The losses seemingly set a hard ceiling on his career, even though most fans believed he should have beaten Taylor in his first title shot.

Chasing Health & Wealth .’ pic.twitter.com/CoFLraUobu
— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) September 12, 2026

Lopez and Catterall are both recent additions to the welterweight division, with the latter only moving up from 140 pounds in July 2025, one year before the former followed. Both made the move after suffering their most recent losses at super lightweight. 'El Gato' is 3-0 at welterweight, with Lopez now 1-0 in the weight class.

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