Teofimo Lopez‘s manager Keith Connolly has revealed that he is legally pursuing an opportunity for the newly-crowned WBA champion to circumvent his mandatory duty.

‘The Takeover’ claimed his belt with a majority decision victory over Rolando Romerodethroning his countryman to become a three-division world champion last weekend.

For the most part, Lopez was in full control, other than when he was badly hurt by an overhand right in round five of their Las Vegas encounter.

Rather impressively, though, the American made a swift recovery and remained the busier fighter, returning to the win column after suffering a wide points defeat to Shakur Stevenson in January.

Now campaigning at 147lbs, Lopez has since expressed his interest in unification matches with Devin Haney, Liam Paro or the winner of Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn, which takes place at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12.

At the same time, however, WBA ‘regular’ champion Jack Catterall is demanding his shot at the full title, having been promised by sanctioning body president Gilberto Mendoza that he would secure this opportunity within 180 days of his last outing.

Manager Connolly has therefore told Ring Magazine that he is attempting to leverage Lopez’ ‘super’ status and swerve a mandatory title defence against Catterall.

“I have my legal team, and Teo’s legal team, working on that right now. I don’t wanna say too much publicly, but some people on the other side were saying that we agreed to [the 180-day ruling].

“We didn’t agree to that – we were never given a contract to sign, saying that we would fight Jack Catterall next.

“We’ll talk to the WBA. We are the super champion, which comes with more privileges than being a regular champion. So, if we go out [and secure] a mega fight or unification, I think we have the right to do that. But let’s see how things play out.”

With Catterall unanimously outpointing Shakhram Giyasov for his regular title in May, the proposed deadline of November 19 – which seems unrealistic, even if Lopez is commanded to face his mandatory challenger – is now just weeks away.

Eddie Hearn believes Moses Itauma’s true introduction to world level will not come against Filip Hrgovic, but rather a savvy veteran who has recently restored his ‘bogeyman’ reputation.

Most would agree, however, that Hrgovic represents the 21-year-old’s toughest opponent thus far, with the Croatian’s only defeat arriving against Daniel Dubois in 2024.

Back then, ‘El Animal’ gave a commendable effort – and had arguably built a slight lead – but was ultimately stopped on cuts in round eight of their encounter.

Many would therefore consider him a top 10 heavyweight, yet Hrgovic has nonetheless been made a sizable underdog against the promising and unbeaten Itauma.

If he defeats the 34-year-old at London’s O2 Arena tomorrow evening, Itauma will become the youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson dethroned Trevor Berbick in 1986.

By claiming the vacant IBF title, though, Itauma would then be ordered to face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez, who comes off a second-round finish over Richard Torrez Jr in May.

‘The Cuban Flash’ also unanimously outpointed Efe Ajagba in 2021, with his only defeat coming via a seventh-round knockout against Agit Kabayel in 2024.

But even so, Matchroom promoter Hearn has told DAZN that, stylistically, Sanchez could present Itauma with a greater challenge than Hrgovic.

“The [opponent] that’s actually a bit more difficult for Moses, that he will have to fight, is Frank Sanchez. He’s old [34]but it’s the style – his reflexes, although he’s old, are still [pronounced].

“He wilted against Kabayel. I think he had a bad knee but, when it’s on top, Sanchez [doesn’t respond well]. But, early on, he’s sharp.”

Frank Sanchez is a problem for Moses if he gets through Hrgovic, say @EddieHearn & @TonyBellew 👀

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— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 26, 2026

With Kabayel having since become the WBC world champion, Sanchez’ sole defeat does not appear quite so severe.

Recent training footage of Terence Crawford has sparked rumours that the pound-for-pound superstar could be planning a comeback. Fellow former welterweight champion Shawn Porter has now weighed in.

Crawford and Porter fought back in 2021 in what turned out to be Porter’s final bout, with ‘Bud’ defending his WBO title via round 10 stoppage and then continuing his welterweight KO streak in clashes with David Avanesyan and Errol Spence Jr to claim the undisputed title at 147lbs.

The Omaha southpaw then got his hands on super-welterweight world honours with a triumph over Israil Madrimov, before the crowning moment of his career – an undisputed super-middleweight title win against Canelo Alvarez.

The undefeated sensation hung up the gloves just three months later, but footage of him back in the gym has led fans to believe that Crawford could soon return.

However, in an interview with About BoxingPorter all but shut down those suggestions, revealing that Crawford’s retirement plans were in place long before his triumph over Canelo and that his decision was not made without serious thought.

“Without saying too much, I will say that I don’t think he is going to come back. I don’t want to say that I know he is not going to come back because I feel like that is saying too much, but we have had our conversations a long time before he even fought Canelo Alvarez.

“We have had conversations over the years and I knew that time was coming after that Canelo fight, what else do you want to do?”

Instead, it is understood that Crawford’s return to the gym was done to aid stablemate Lester Martinezwho takes on Luka Plantic on Saturday in an attempted second defence of his WBC Interim super-middleweight title.