Moments ago WBC and WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel and challenger and two-time champion Nonito Donaire weighed in ahead of their clash this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each man ended up coming in at 118 pounds but there was some confusion on Donaire’s actual weight.
The weigh-in, originally scheduled for 3 O’clock, was pushed back thirty or so minutes. There was talk that Donaire was slightly overweight and that was the reason for the delay, which caused some serious frustration from Montiel’s camp. After some down time, Nonito would make his way to the scale and make the weight without worries but there were whispers in the crowd that perhaps he had to struggle to squeeze himself down to 118 pounds.
<--- Slideshow: Behind the scenes at the Nonito Donaire-Fernando Montiel weigh-in
Donaire’s trainer Robert Garcia and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum denied as much, claiming that the first time Donaire stepped on the scale, prior to the official weigh-in, that it was simply a test run in which he was less than 1/4 pound over because of the briefs he had on.
On the undercard, Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones weighed in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds for his rematch with Sinaloa, Mexico’s Jesus Soto-Karass, who himself came in at 146 pounds. The two men fought three months ago in Dallas, Texas, with Jones winning a majority decision. In that fight Jones stormed out of the gates before running out of gas and barely hanging on to capture the victory.
There were several boxing luminaries in attendance, including Jorge ‘Travieso’ Arce, Juan Manuel Lopez, Antonio Margarito, trainer Jeff Maywether and his fighters Chase Corbin and Mickey Bey, trainer and cut man Miguel Diaz, and Sergio Martinez’s advisor Sampson Lewkowicz, amongst others.
The fight in just a day away and the excitement couldn’t be much higher, as evidenced by the great turnout of fans and media at today’s weigh-in. For a behind-the-scenes look at all the action please check out the slideshow on the left or click HERE
