The WBA ordered Romero to defend his 147-pound championship against Catterall within 180 days of the British southpaw’s impressive points victory over Shakhram Giyasov on May 23 in Giza, Egypt. Eddie Hearn, Catterall’s promoter, suggested that their fight take place within 90 days of Catterall capturing the WBA’s secondary crown.

England’s Catterall explained his position on getting the title shot he earned during an appearance on the most recent episode of “Inside The Ring,” which premiered Monday on DAZN.

“From my understanding, Shakhram was chasing Rolly for quite some time,” Catterall said. “He didn’t wanna fight him. We jumped at the chance to slip stream in, really, and get in that position to fight Rolly. But I made it quite clear to [manager] Sam Jones, to Eddie Hearn, that like I don’t wanna be sitting, waiting about.

“That’s why I chose to remove me self from that mandatory position in the WBO, to kinda go down this route. But listen, Rolly, love to get it on next. Let’s do it. If not, vacate the title, do whatever you’ve got to do. But we just want to carry on fighting, stay busy and fight all these top guys and be involved in some good fights.”

Uzbekistan’s Giyasov (17-1, 10 KOs) never received his mandated shot at Romero’s championship.

Rather than continuing to wait, he agreed to face Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs) on The Ring’s “Glory in Giza” card in front of the famed Pyramids. Catterall dropped Giyasov in the first round and defeated the 2016 Olympic silver medalist comfortably on all three scorecards (119-108, 118-109, 116-111).

Catterall would welcome fights against WBC champ Ryan Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) and WBO titleholder Devin Haney (33-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC) as well. The Ring’s third-rated contender for a vacant championship admitted, though, that he wants Romero more than Garcia or Haney.

“Imma fly over to Vegas,” Catterall said, “box Rolly Romero, give him a boxing lesson, and then return back to the UK.”

Representatives for Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) have engaged in negotiations with Haney’s handlers, but the North Las Vegas native hasn’t fought in 13 months. Romero upset Garcia, who was a 10-1 favorite, in his last fight, the main event of The Ring’s card in May 2025 at Times Square in New York.