diff --git a/packages/core/src/canvas/text.ts b/packages/core/src/canvas/text.ts
index b7f020b70..b272be5a5 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/canvas/text.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/canvas/text.ts
@@ -208,8 +208,8 @@ function addStyledRuns(
         ),
         fontSize: runFontSize,
         fontStyle: {
-          weight: { value: 400 } as FontWeight,
-          slant: ck.FontSlant.Upright
+          weight: { value: s.fontWeight ?? node.fontWeight } as FontWeight,
+          slant: (s.italic ?? node.italic) ? ck.FontSlant.Italic : ck.FontSlant.Upright
         },
         letterSpacing: s.letterSpacing ?? (node.letterSpacing || 0),
         decoration: textDecorationValue(ck, s.textDecoration ?? node.textDecoration),
@@ -263,8 +263,8 @@ export function buildParagraph(
       ),
       fontSize: baseFontSize,
       fontStyle: {
-        weight: { value: 400 } as FontWeight,
-        slant: ck.FontSlant.Upright
+        weight: { value: node.fontWeight } as FontWeight,
+        slant: node.italic ? ck.FontSlant.Italic : ck.FontSlant.Upright
       },
       letterSpacing: node.letterSpacing || 0,
       decoration: textDecorationValue(ck, node.textDecoration),
diff --git a/packages/core/src/text/fonts.ts b/packages/core/src/text/fonts.ts
index 8638dd059..9ba767c5a 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/text/fonts.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/text/fonts.ts
@@ -45,16 +45,12 @@ export function chooseLocalFontMatch<T extends LocalFontMatch>(
     })
     if (sameStyle) return sameStyle
 
-    const sameSlant = candidates.filter((x) => parseFontStyle(x.style).italic === requested.italic)
-    if (sameSlant.length > 0) {
-      return sameSlant.sort(
-        (a, b) =>
-          Math.abs(parseFontStyle(a.style).weight - requested.weight) -
-          Math.abs(parseFontStyle(b.style).weight - requested.weight)
-      )[0]
-    }
+    if (style) continue
 
-    if (!style && candidates.length > 0) return candidates[0]
+    const sameSlant = candidates.filter((x) => parseFontStyle(x.style).italic === requested.italic)
+    if (sameSlant.length > 0) return sameSlant[0]
+
+    if (candidates.length > 0) return candidates[0]
   }
 
   return undefined
diff --git a/tests/engine/render/canvas/text.test.ts b/tests/engine/render/canvas/text.test.ts
index ec795bec0..2293767dd 100644
--- a/tests/engine/render/canvas/text.test.ts
+++ b/tests/engine/render/canvas/text.test.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { initCanvasKit } from '#cli/headless'
 import type { SkiaRenderer } from '#core/canvas/renderer'
 import { renderText } from '#core/canvas/scene'
 import type { SceneNode } from '#core/scene-graph'
+import { buildParagraph } from '#core/canvas/text'
 import { fontManager } from '#core/text/fonts'
 
 import { expectDefined } from '#tests/helpers/assert'
@@ -69,10 +70,27 @@ function textNode(overrides: Partial<SceneNode> = {}): SceneNode {
     text: 'Hello 你好',
     fontSize: 16,
     fontFamily: 'Arial',
+    fontWeight: 400,
+    italic: false,
+    letterSpacing: 0,
+    lineHeight: null,
+    textAlignHorizontal: 'LEFT',
+    textAlignVertical: 'TOP',
+    textAutoResize: 'NONE',
+    textDecoration: 'NONE',
+    textDirection: 'AUTO',
+    styleRuns: [],
     ...overrides
   } as SceneNode
 }
 
+async function createTextRenderer() {
+  const ck = await initCanvasKit()
+  const surface = expectDefined(ck.MakeSurface(400, 120), 'surface')
+  const renderer = new SkiaRendererClass(ck, surface)
+  return { renderer, surface }
+}
+
 describe('renderText', () => {
   test('uses buildParagraph when fonts are loaded and node font is available', () => {
     const r = createMockRenderer()
@@ -150,6 +168,34 @@ describe('renderText', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('paragraph font weights', () => {
+  test('bold Inter paragraph is wider than regular Inter', async () => {
+    const { renderer, surface } = await createTextRenderer()
+    await renderer.loadFonts()
+    const regular = await Bun.file(repoPath('public/Inter-Regular.ttf')).arrayBuffer()
+    const bold = await Bun.file(repoPath('public/Inter-Bold.ttf')).arrayBuffer()
+    fontManager.markLoaded('Inter', 'Regular', regular)
+    fontManager.markLoaded('Inter', 'Bold', bold)
+
+    const base = textNode({
+      text: 'World largest design',
+      fontFamily: 'Inter',
+      fontSize: 64,
+      width: 1000,
+      height: 100,
+      fontWeight: 400,
+      italic: false
+    })
+    const regularParagraph = buildParagraph(renderer, base)
+    const boldParagraph = buildParagraph(renderer, { ...base, fontWeight: 700 })
+
+    expect(boldParagraph.getLongestLine()).toBeGreaterThan(regularParagraph.getLongestLine())
+    regularParagraph.delete()
+    boldParagraph.delete()
+    surface.delete()
+  })
+})
+
 describe('renderText headless visual', () => {
   test('detects base direction for Arabic and mixed text', () => {
     expect(detectTextDirection('مرحبا')).toBe('RTL')
diff --git a/tests/engine/text/fonts/loading.test.ts b/tests/engine/text/fonts/loading.test.ts
index f53ddacad..65c359d6a 100644
--- a/tests/engine/text/fonts/loading.test.ts
+++ b/tests/engine/text/fonts/loading.test.ts
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ describe('chooseLocalFontMatch', () => {
     expect(chooseLocalFontMatch(fonts, 'Inter', 'Regular')?.style).toBe('Regular')
   })
 
-  test('does not fall back from upright requests to italic when upright faces exist', () => {
-    expect(chooseLocalFontMatch(fonts, 'Inter', 'Bold')?.style).toBe('Semi Bold')
+  test('does not substitute nearby weights for explicit style requests', () => {
+    expect(chooseLocalFontMatch(fonts, 'Inter', 'Bold')).toBeUndefined()
   })
 })