MONTREAL ? Bernard Hopkins laughed off his misfire on the scale on Friday at the official weigh-in, a day before he challenges champion Jean Pascal at the Bell Centre for the World Boxing Council light heavyweight title in a bid to become the oldest man ever to win a major boxing championship.
Hopkins, 46, weighed 175 pounds, nine ounces when he first stepped onto the scale in a ballroom at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, nine ounces over the light heavyweight limit. He stripped naked and weighed again immediately, coming in at 175 pounds, six ounces. He tried again seconds later and was four ounces over.
Officials gave him two hours to lose the requisite weight. After an hour and a trip to the restroom, Hopkins officially came in at 174 pounds, 14 ounces, the same as Pascal.
?You guys have said I?m full of it and that?s what it was,? said Hopkins, who guaranteed a victory.
Should Hopkins defeat Pascal, he would break the record set in 1995 by George Foreman, who was 45 when he knocked out Michael Moorer to win the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles.
Pascal is a slight favorite at the gaming site Bodog, where he is minus-140. Hopkins is plus-110.
