Jack Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs) says he won’t clear the way for a potential Teofimo Lopez-Ryan Garcia unification fight, insisting he is the mandatory challenger for Lopez’s welterweight belt.
“Not going anywhere, not stepping aside,” Catterall
Catterall’s comments came after Garcia (26-2, 21 KOs) stopped Conor Benn (25-2, 14 KOs) in the second round to retain his WBC 147-pound title, and then called for Lopez to face him next. Catterall earned his position by beating Shakhram Giyasov in May, which triggered a WBA rule requiring its top titleholder to face the Catterall-Giyasov winner within 180 days — an obligation Lopez inherited after beating Rolando Romero in August, with the window closing in November.
That leaves the WBA facing a decision: enforce the ruling and push Lopez toward a smaller fight, or find a way to clear a path for the much more lucrative Garcia matchup — likely through a step-aside payment to Catterall. Given how much bigger the Garcia fight is commercially, Catterall’s leverage may come down to how much he’s paid to step aside, however as of now he said stepping aside in not an option. We’ll see if his stance changes if he’s offered a significant amount off money to allow the Garcia-Lopez fight to happen.