Garcia vs Lopez Eyeing Feb 6 — But the WBA Could Blow It Up

Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez are deep in talks for a welterweight title clash on February 6, with New York or Las Vegas the likely landing spots. On paper it's a two-belt affair: Garcia holds the WBC strap at 147, which he took off Mario Barrios in February before stopping Conor Benn inside two rounds, while Lopez lifted the WBA title with a majority decision over Rolando Romero in August.

There's just one problem, and it's a big one. Lopez has a mandatory challenger waiting — Jack Catterall, the WBA's No. 9 welterweight at 33-2 (14 KO) — and if Lopez keeps dodging him, the sanctioning body could strip the belt before Garcia ever sees it. That would turn a clean unification into a single-title fight.

Hearn Likes His Odds

Catterall's promoter, Eddie Hearn, sounds confident the WBA will hold the line. Speaking to IFL TV, he argued that Team Lopez already tried to wriggle out of the ordered mandatory by pushing for a unification exception — and that excuse doesn't fly once the fight's been formally ordered. He pointed to a backlog stretching back roughly three years, with past champions like Romero waved through without facing their mandatories.

Hearn reckons Catterall is sitting pretty either way: either he gets Lopez in the ring, or the WBA simply bumps him from 'regular' to 'super' champion and hands him the belt. For a fighter coming off a unanimous-decision win over Shakhram Giyasov, that's not a bad hand to be holding.

The Fight's Happening Regardless

The upshot is that the sanctioning drama probably won't derail the main event. Ring Magazine's Mike Coppinger reported that he'd be surprised if Garcia-Lopez wasn't next, with February 6 the working date as talks continue. Crucially, he said the WBA ruling won't affect negotiations — and neither will the long-rumored Floyd Mayweather circus.

Coppinger threw cold water on that one too. A Garcia-Mayweather exhibition, in the unlikely event it ever materializes, would come after the Lopez fight, not before. For now, the money's on Garcia and Lopez — two Americans with a combined 47-4 record and 33 knockouts — settling it early next year, with or without the full set of hardware on the line.

That leaves Catterall as the wildcard. If the WBA follows through, he could be a champion by default while the bigger names chase each other. Not the worst spot to watch from.