Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez have a date in mind. The WBA might have other ideas.

The Ring’s Mike Coppinger reported that Feb. 6 is the target for a welterweight unification between Garcia, the WBC champion, and Lopez, who holds the WBA title.

Would be surprised if Garcia-Teofimo didn’t take place next. Feb. 6 is the targeted date right now as talks continue. The WBA decision won’t impact talks and neither will any prospect of a Floyd Mayweather fight. That, in the unlikely event it happens, would take place after Teo.

Coppinger reported the fight is likely to land in New York or Las Vegas. The problem is Jack Catterall, the WBA’s mandatory challenger.

Eddie Hearn, who promotes Catterall, told IFL TV he expects the sanctioning body to stand by its order.

The WBA made their decision. They ordered the fight [and] Team Teofimo Lopez complained. They said: ‘We’d like you to reconsider; we’d like to look at having a unification.'

And people like [Lopez’ manager] Keith Connolly say: ‘A unification always supersedes a mandatory.’ [But] not when [the mandatory has] already been ordered, and not when there’s a backlog of about three years.

Hearn was pointing to champions before Lopez, including Rolando Romero, who were able to skip past their mandatory challengers. If Lopez fights Garcia instead, Hearn believes Catterall could be elevated to the WBA’s full champion.

Lopez won the belt with a majority decision over Romero in August. Garcia took the WBC title from Mario Barrios in February, then stopped Conor Benn in the second round in September.

Garcia has also been linked to a fight with Floyd Mayweather, though Coppinger expects that to wait.