The sanctioning body ruled on Tuesday that both sides have until October 22 to come to an agreement or purse bids will be called.

For Catterall, the WBA’s ruling must be music to his ears. The 33-year-old southpaw from Chorley, England earned his position thanks to his unanimous decision victory over Shakhram Giyasov on May 23 in Giza, Egypt.

Prior to that bout, the sanctioning body made it clear that the winner of Catterall vs. Giyasov would face then-champion, Rolando “Rolly” Romero.

However, Romero would later lose his title on points to Lopez on August 22.

Although Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs), who’s on a three-fight win streak since moving up in weight, is satisfied with the WBA’s decision, Lopez won't be.

The former three-division champion was hoping to land a big fight in the first half of 2027 against WBC titlist Ryan Garcia. Lopez (23-2, 13 KOs) attempted to confront Garcia in the ring following his second-round stoppage win over Conor Benn on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Shortly after beating Romero (17-3, 13 KOs) by majority decision, Lopez, who bounced back from a wide unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson on January 31, stated that he wanted to become an undisputed welterweight champion. However, the 29-year-old from Brooklyn will now have to put those plans on hold for Catterall.

The WBA deemed Jaime Munguia's 120-day voluntary defense period to have expired on August 30, meaning he must face the division's leading mandatory contender Bektemir Melikuziev.

The two sides have until October 21 to come to an agreement. This update follows the Uzbek contender's public frustration over the handling of his long-overdue title shot.

That had been exacerbated by rumors of the champion's proposed defense against lesser opposition in a voluntary defense on the Octover 31 show headlined by Canelo Alvarez-Christian Mbilli in Saudi Arabia.

Melikuziev (17-1, 11 KOs) earned that mandatory challenger distinction with a hard-fought points win over Darius Fulghum in May 2025.

The 30-year-old has boxed just once in 16 months since, a seventh-round stoppage of Sena Agbeko in February.