Two divisions changed in one night
The WBA title picture changed in two weight classes on 22 August 2026. Gary Antonio Russell defeated Victor Santillan to become the WBA interim super bantamweight champion. Later that night, Teofimo Lopez defeated Rolando Romero by majority decision to win the WBA welterweight title.
Gary Antonio Russell becomes interim champion
Russell entered the fight as the challenger to Victor Santillan's WBA interim super bantamweight title. The result moved Russell into the interim championship position and removed Santillan from that title slot.
The updated WBA super bantamweight rankings now show Russell as Interim Champion. Naoya Inoue remains the WBA Super Champion, so the division has two WBA champions at this weight.
Russell was previously listed at number four in July by the WBA.
The WBA's boxer profile for Russell records the 22 August contest against Santillan. Box-Rank's Gary Antonio Russell profile provides the site view of his ranking history and current title position.
Teofimo Lopez wins the WBA welterweight title
Lopez entered the fight as the number six contender in the July WBA welterweight list. Romero was the WBA Super Champion. Lopez won by majority decision at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, becoming the new WBA Welterweight Super Champion.
The Teofimo Lopez boxer profile connects the new title position to his wider ranking history. The result also gives Lopez a world title in a third weight class, adding a new chapter to a career that has already included championships at lightweight and super lightweight.
Why the archive and live view can differ
A monthly ranking file is a snapshot, not a live record of every fight that happens after publication. The July WBA list correctly records Romero and Santillan in the title positions that existed when that list was published. It should not be rewritten to make the historical page appear as if the fights had already happened.
The current view has a different job. It can apply a verified title change after a fight so visitors do not see an outdated champion on the live ranking page while waiting for the next official monthly list. This keeps the archive intact while making the current title picture easier to understand.
That distinction matters when comparing organisations. The WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and Ring do not publish on exactly the same schedule, and each uses its own title labels. For background, see how boxing rankings work.
What to watch in the next WBA release
The next official WBA monthly rankings should show whether Russell and Lopez are carried in the same title categories, whether their former opponents remain in the published contender fields, and whether any other positions change around them.
Until that release appears, the clearest way to follow the change is to compare the live WBA super bantamweight table and WBA welterweight table with their July archive pages. The archive shows the published snapshot. The live view shows the title picture after the fights.
That is the useful part of a rankings archive. It does not flatten every change into one list. It shows what was published, what happened next, and where the two records differ.