‘The Hammer’ hit the scales at 134.9lbs at Friday’s weigh-in but could not be more than ten pounds above that at a second weigh-in on Saturday morning, and Mitchell was just over a pound high.
The 29-year-old’s fight will still go ahead on the massive Carl Froch v George Groves rematch bill at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, although a Mitchell victory will look set to mean no world title opportunity.
It’s yet another blow on the world stage for Mitchell, who disastrously lost an interim WBA title shot against Micheal Katsidis in three rounds at his beloved Upton Park in 2010 before suffering a second similar stoppage to Ricky Burns for the WBO belt in 2012.
Avid football fan Mitchell will now tackle undefeated Maduma, who had no problems on the scaling, with his IBF dream in tatters on what is set to be the biggest stage of his career so far at Wembley Stadium.
Just after the incident occurred, Mitchell had this to say: “Weighed in 1.4lb over. (it’s) down to my body holding on to too much fluid. Fight still going ahead. Itching to get in that ring now.”
Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay for tweets of upcoming news on WBN
Froch v Groves goes out live on HBO in the US and Sky Sports Box Office in the UK this Saturday night from Wembley Stadium in London.
