After comprehensively beating Conor Benn inside two rounds at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Garcia immediately called for a high-profile title unification with his rival champion. <\/p>\n
Catterall (33-2, 14 KOs) watched the action unfold from a DAZN studio in London.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Catterall grew tired of waiting for a shot at WBO 147-pound champion Devin Haney. He decided to take a different route and accepted a dangerous fight for the WBA\u2019s secondary title with Uzbekistan\u2019s Shakhram Giyasov, <\/p>\n
He did so with the assurance that he would fight for the full title within 180 days.<\/p>\n
In May, in the shadows of the Great Pyramids of Giza, Catterall, 33, produced a career-best performance, dropping Giyasov in the opening round and totally outboxing him before winning a wide unanimous decision. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
On August 22, Rolly Romero lost the full WBA title to Teofimo Lopez, and the new champion has shown no interest \u2014 publicly at least \u2014 in facing Catterall.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Lopez played a significant part in events surrounding the fight between Garcia and Benn. On Thursday he donned a fake beard and asked a question at the pre-fight press conference. After the fight he was involved in a brief ruckus after Garcia called him out. <\/p>\n
In July, Catterall told The Ring that if the winner doesn\u2019t fight him before November 19 he will be declared the full champion and, in the early hours of Sunday morning, he made it clear that he isn\u2019t going to sit by and allow Lopez to move around him. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo favours no queue jumping just what\u2019s owed to me. I want my shot NEXT\u201d he posted on X. <\/p>\n
Catterall slowly worked his way up through the levels and had been a professional for almost 10 years by the time he got a shot at Josh Taylor\u2019s undisputed junior welterweight title in February 2022.<\/p>\n
Catterall was fully prepared for his moment. He performed well and dropped Taylor before losing one of the most controversial split decisions in recent memory. <\/p>\n
Two years later he gained revenge over Taylor and has since moved up and established himself as one of the best welterweights in the world. <\/p>\n
Benn skipped those crucial learning steps.<\/p>\n
He got himself into position to fight Garcia without facing a legitimate threat at British level and his most noteworthy wins at 147 pounds came more than four years ago when he stopped faded ex-champion Chris Algieri and Chris Van Heerden. <\/p>\n
A high-profile middleweight rivalry with Chris Eubank Jr earned Benn fame and fortune but it did precious little to prepare him for the challenge of fighting the razor sharp Garcia. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think levels are important in boxing winning a British title proving you\u2019re the best in your own country before you move on to world level. Middle fights are key to progression\u201d Catterall posted.<\/p>\n
\u201cConor\u2019s a big name he\u2019s a brilliant self promoter I don\u2019t begrudge him getting his shot I\u2019m sure he will fight Eubank again next and make millions.<\/p>\n
“Some fighters have to go the country route to a world fight I\u2019m one of them but I\u2019ve earned my shot and want it next.\u201d<\/p>\n
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