CURRENT world super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao failed to provide the World Boxing Council (WBC) a result of the mandated 30-day weigh-in for his upcoming lightweight title bout against titleholder David Diaz.
This was revealed by WBC Executive Weight Supervisor Luis Escalona in an email to Sportsnews.
On the other hand Diaz, the current WBC 135-lb champion submitted his official weight at 145-lbs.. Diaz? weight was a few pounds below the 30-day requirement which is pegged at 10% of the official lightweight limit.
?Mr. David Diaz did submit his 30 day weight and was 145 lbs or 65.91 kilos,? said Escalona.
The 30-day weigh-in was established by the WBC as well as several states in the US to monitor the weight of every fighter and avoid any undue harm caused by rigorous weight reduction while preparing for a fight.
Team Pacquiao, most notably American trainer Freddie Roach has guaranteed in several interviews that weight will be the least of their problems.
Escalona said another round of weight monitoring, this time 19-day weigh-in was scheduled days ago but results of which are still to be verified and released to media.
Early this week Pacquiao, in one of his guestings with the daily morning radio show ?Sports Chat? admitted that he has been bothered by cough and colds the past days after their promotional gig in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao has been proclaimed the new pound-for-pound king by default as the latest ruler Floyd Mayweather, Jr. recently announced his retirement.
Pacquiao is expected to cement his claim to the throne should he beat Diaz in their 12-round WBC lightweight title fight on June 28 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pacquiao, a three-division world champion as he also held the flyweight and super bantamweight crowns, will be fighting as a lightweight for only the first time in his illustrious career.
Yesterday Pacquiao continued to play his part of their promotional tour in San Diego, California where they held a press conference at the Cox Communications Building attended by a god number of media personalities.
Diaz begged of from the trip as he wanted to continue his training in Chicago.
Pacquiao, 29, is hoping that a win against Diaz will open up an opportunity for him to challenge 140-lb British superstar Ricky Hatton soon.
?”After Diaz, I want to fight Ricky Hatton. That will be a good fight,? Pacquiao recently told Ring Magazine. “I’m 150lbs right now. My sparring partners are always 140 to 150lbs. It’s not problem for me. And I’m not getting any younger. So why not?”
The match-up was first revealed by revered American trainer Freddie Roach to the daily morning radio show ?Sports Chat? in a story that came out December of last year.
Interviewed by ?Sports Chat? late last year, Roach said a bout with Oscar Dela Hoya may be too good to be true but at the same time revealed about talks of a Hatton-Pacquiao square-off in the near future.
?I don?t believe Oscar can go down to 147. I?m not that sure if that will work out. But against Ricky Hatton who?s maybe just as popular in his home country, it will be a huge fight for everybody,? Roach said in that radio interview.
Hatton?s camp is now on the lookout for possible marquee match-ups after their most cherished rematch against Mayweather, Jr. may never happen or that it may take a while as the longtime pound-for-pound king recently announced his retirement. Hatton lost via 10th round TKO December of last year.
