On Friday night at Turning Stone Resort Casino and in California, the fighters stepped on the scale ahead of two stacked cards with championship fights.
The events are headlined by WBA Light Heavyweight Titlist Dmitry Bivol making his fifth defense against Joe Smith Jr. Also Shawn Porter defending his WBC welterweight strap.
On Bivol v Smith, WBO Light Featherweight Titlist Maurice Hooker battles Mikkel LesPierre. The main card will also feature Callum Johnson against Sean Monaghan in a Light Heavyweight clash.
Saturday’s event will be broadcasted live on DAZN. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET and main card starting at 9 p.m. ET.
Porter v Ugas is live on FOX.
Hooker came in heavy on the scales and was forced to retry three times. Still not making 140, Hooker was given another hour.
‘Mighty Mo’ somehow hit the super-lightweight mark by taking off his clothing in order to keep his title belt.
Full weights for main card:
12-Round WBA Light Heavyweight World Title Bout @ 175 lbs.
Dmitry Bivol: 173.5 lbs.
Joe Smith Jr: 173 lbs.
12-Round WBO Super Lightweight Title Bout @ 140 lbs.
Maurice Hooker: 140 lbs.
Mikkel LesPierre: 138.75 lbs.
10-Round Light Heavyweight Bout @ 175 lbs.
Callum Johnson: 173 lbs.
Sean Monaghan: 174 lbs.
In another hair-raising, or rather a hair-losing moment, Shawn Porter was forced to do similar to Hooker.
Coming in well over 147 pounds, Porter also had to strip naked to get down to fighting weight.
Securing an official scaling of 146.8 pounds, Porter had to cut off his locks to finally hit the mark.
PROBLEM
Both incidents highlighted the continued problem with fighters making weight safely.
Hooker and Porter could not have done their bodies any good in shedding the last-minute poundage.
The pair are experienced pros, so it’s worrying that both didn’t manage to sort out their weight before facing the cameras.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has long campaigned for changes to the current system due to failures. Hopefully they can be fully implemented across the board soon.
