The top four fighters in line for a shot at Teofimo Lopez’s WBO junior welterweight title are, in order, Arnold Barboza, Jack Catterall, Richardson Hitchins and Jose Ramirez.
Hitchins will soon be taken out of consideration, given his December 7 bout with IBF titleholder Liam Paro.
But the WBO has yet to decide whether Barboza, Catterall or Ramirez will be named Lopez’s mandatory.
One reason for that is because Barboza and Ramirez are due to fight on November 16. Catterall, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision victory on October 26 over Regis Prograis (who was ranked No. 7 before the defeat).
“We haven’t designated yet because there’s still some possible scenarios that may arise to determine properly who will be the mandatory for Teo,” said newly elected WBO President Gustavo Olivieri during a Thursday meeting of the ratings committee at the sanctioning body’s convention in Puerto Rico.
“We have to see what the committee rules,” Olivieri said. “We either do a final eliminator or we just order the mandatory when the mandatory comes. Catterall defeated a rated contender; probably he’ll be placed No. 1. We have to wait and see. Let’s see what happens in November with Barboza and Ramirez. And we will determine.”
Barboza has been in the No. 1 slot for a long time, dating back to June 2023. Barboza was No. 2 before then. He moved up after Lopez, who was rated No. 1 at the time, and defeated Josh Taylor for the WBO title and lineal championship at 140lbs.
Lopez, 21-1 (13 KOs), has won two fights since beating Taylor, taking decisions over Jamaine Ortiz in February and Steve Claggett in June. Lopez, who also was previously the lineal champion at 135, is reportedly considering departing junior welterweight and heading seven pounds north to welterweight.
Barboza, 30-0 (11 KOs), has also added a pair of victories since his ascension in the rankings, stopping Xolisani Ndongeni in eight rounds in January and getting the nod in a split decision over Sean McComb in April.
Ramirez, 29-1 (18 KOs), is a former unified titleholder who lost to Taylor in May 2021 in a fight for the undisputed championship. He has not been overly active since, outpointing Jose Pedraza in March 2022, knocking out Richard Commey in 11 rounds in March 2023 and winning a unanimous decision over Rances Barthelemy this April. This will be the first time Ramirez has fought twice in a year since 2019.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.