Jack Catterall finds himself waiting on the sidelines while his pursuit of Teofimo Lopez hangs in the air. With Thursday’s negotiation deadline closing in fast, the WBA regular welterweight titleholder admitted publicly that his career is paused.

Addressing questions on social media about potentially taking on Shakur StevensonCatterall made it clear he intends to give the public what they want once his immediate path clears up. Still, he stopped short of promising that Lopez would be standing across from him next.

“My career is currently on hold but in the next week or so it’ll be resolved and will promise you all I’ll fight whoever the fans want me to fight,” Catterall shared on X.

The clock started ticking on September 22, when the sanctioning body ordered Lopez to defend against Catterall, setting an October 22 cutoff. Lopez took on that mandatory requirement back in August after dethroning Rolando Romero for the Super championship.

Thursday does not mark an automatic verdict from the sanctioning body, though. Letting the date expire without a deal merely hands the decision back to the committee. It will not immediately strip Teofimo, nor does it guarantee an overnight elevation for Catterall.

Word is that Teofimo’s side wants an exemption so they can target a massive unification clash with Ryan Garcia instead. That puts Catterall in a tough spot, waiting to see if his mandatory status actually lands him the marquee name or just sparks another sanctioning headache.

Catterall did the heavy lifting inside the ropes back in May, picking up the secondary strap with a win over Shakhram Giyasov. He handled his business in the ring, but right now the business side is calling the shots.

The split title system creates a mess if Teofimo refuses to engage. Stripping the champion and elevating Catterall to the top spot is certainly on the table, yet the organization hasn’t committed to that route.

Picking up the Super belt via an email upgrade would look nice on his resume, but it robs Catterall of the statement win and the massive check that comes with beating Teofimo in the ring. Handing him the title on paper simply leaves him searching for another dance partner anyway.

His talk about fighting whoever fans pick came up during a back-and-forth about Stevenson, which means he hasn’t officially walked away from chasing Teofimo. The bigger takeaway is that Catterall still cannot lock in a date with anyone.

Catterall sounds less than confident that he’ll get the Teofimo fight. The moment a fighter publicly admits their career is on hold and starts asking the public who they should fight, it sounds like an admission of defeat before the deadline even arrives. Catterallsounds resigned to being bypassed, left holding an upgraded paper title with no marquee scalp to show for it.

Most Valuable Promotions has formally challenged Lucas Bahdi’s defeat against Floyd Schofield III, petitioning the WBA for an immediate rematch after claiming uncalled knockdowns cost their fighter the vacant lightweight world championship.

The promotional outfit submitted video footage alongside detailed documentation to the WBA following the October 10 clash in Chicago. MVP maintains that if the referee had correctly recognized and scored the disputed incidents, Bahdi would have emerged with a majority decision win instead of leaving the ring empty-handed.

Schofield took the vacant belt by unanimous decision, capturing wide margins on the official cards with scores of 116 to 110, 115 to 111, and a steep 119 to 108. Bahdi’s side now wants the sanctioning body to grant another title opportunity, arguing that multiple officiating blunders corrupted those final numbers.

“The video evidence demonstrates multiple significant officiating errors that directly impacted the outcome of the fight,” MVP said in its statement.

“Our review shows that had these knockdowns been properly ruled and scored, Lucas would have won the WBA lightweight world championship by majority decision.”

That claim sounds bold on paper, yet MVP failed to provide the necessary receipts to back it up. The public release never identified which specific rounds contained the uncalled drops, nor did it offer an adjusted scorecard breakdown to illustrate how Bahdi overturned an eleven-point deficit on the widest card.

Rather than rehashing standard complaints about judges favoring the house fighter, MVP pinned the blame directly on the third man in the ring. The core of their protest argues that referee mistakes prevented the judges from scoring mandatory 10 to 8 rounds, skewing the overall totals.

“We have submitted our findings to the WBA and requested an immediate rematch,” MVP said.

Securing a second fight remains an uphill climb. A rematch forces Schofield to revisit an opponent he already officially conquered, and lodging a protest never guarantees the WBA will order the boxers back into the ring. The sanctioning body has not issued a ruling on the video review, leaving MVP’s victory claim as promotional posturing until officials deliver a verdict.

Most Valuable Promotions has formally challenged Lucas Bahdi’s defeat against Floyd Schofield III, petitioning the WBA for an immediate rematch after claiming uncalled knockdowns cost their fighter the vacant lightweight world championship.

The promotional outfit submitted video footage alongside detailed documentation to the WBA following the October 10 clash in Chicago. MVP maintains that if the referee had correctly recognized and scored the disputed incidents, Bahdi would have emerged with a majority decision win instead of leaving the ring empty-handed.

Schofield took the vacant belt by unanimous decision, capturing wide margins on the official cards with scores of 116 to 110, 115 to 111, and a steep 119 to 108. Bahdi’s side now wants the sanctioning body to grant another title opportunity, arguing that multiple officiating blunders corrupted those final numbers.

“The video evidence demonstrates multiple significant officiating errors that directly impacted the outcome of the fight,” MVP said in its statement.

“Our review shows that had these knockdowns been properly ruled and scored, Lucas would have won the WBA lightweight world championship by majority decision.”

That claim sounds bold on paper, yet MVP failed to provide the necessary receipts to back it up. The public release never identified which specific rounds contained the uncalled drops, nor did it offer an adjusted scorecard breakdown to illustrate how Bahdi overturned an eleven-point deficit on the widest card.

Rather than rehashing standard complaints about judges favoring the house fighter, MVP pinned the blame directly on the third man in the ring. The core of their protest argues that referee mistakes prevented the judges from scoring mandatory 10 to 8 rounds, skewing the overall totals.

“We have submitted our findings to the WBA and requested an immediate rematch,” MVP said.

Securing a second fight remains an uphill climb. A rematch forces Schofield to revisit an opponent he already officially conquered, and lodging a protest never guarantees the WBA will order the boxers back into the ring. The sanctioning body has not issued a ruling on the video review, leaving MVP’s victory claim as promotional posturing until officials deliver a verdict.