The WBA promoted welterweight Rolando “Rolly” Romero from WBA champion to WBA super champion. The designation was originally created to accomodate unified champions faced with conflicting mandatory defense obligations, but the WBA promoted Romero so it could create an additional championship and collect more sanctioning fees. As part of last week's ruling, the WBA approved a fight for the vacant regular welterweight title between Shakhram Giyasov and Jack Catterall. That bout took place on Saturday at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Caterall defeated Giyasov via unanimous twelve-round decision. It was an emotional win for Caterall, who in 2022 appeared to have defeated Josh Taylor to become world junior welterweight champion, only to get shortchanged on the official scorecards. This time, Caterall (33-2) suffered no surprises when the scores were read. After scoring an early knockdown, Caterall went on to defeat Giyasov by a wide margin: 118-109, 119-108 and 116-111. The WBA claims that Romero must now face Catterall within a maximum period of 180 days after the fight takes place. We'll see if that actually happens. The WBA justified this cash grab as follows: "The resolution issued by the WBA is supported by the organization’s rules and regulations, which grant the Championships Committee and the WBA President the authority to designate Super Champions under exceptional circumstances and in the best interest of the sport."

 

As for Romero, he first captured the WBA interim lightweight title in August 2020 with a [very controversial] victory over Jackson Mariñez and successfully defended the belt once. He later claimed the WBA junior welterweight championship in May 2023 by defeating Ismael Barroso -- again a controversial ending that saw Romero get favorable treatment from the referee. Most recently, romero secured the WBA welterweight crown with a legitimate win over Ryan Garcia on May 2, 2025.