By Keith Idec
LOS ANGELES – Gervonta Davis gained a lot of weight during his lengthy layoff, but he said he had little difficulty shedding a lot of it once he began training.
The unbeaten champion from Baltimore still needed to step on the California State Athletic Commission’s scale three times Friday to make weight for his title defense Saturday night. Davis eventually met his contractual obligation when he officially weighed in at 129.8 pounds, slightly less than the super featherweight limit of 130 pounds.
Davis weighed 130.4 pounds the first time he got on the scale Friday. After taking off his underwear, Davis weighed 130.2 pounds.
He was then given 30 minutes by the CSAC to come back to its scale on weight.
Davis said after the weigh-in that the scale he used in his hotel room was slightly off from the CSAC’s scale. That, more than anything, was the reason he had to go lose two ounces, according to Davis.
“I’m not dehydrated,” Davis said. “I’m OK. My face is not super sunken in. I feel great.”
** weight enabled Davis to avoid losing a 130-pound title on the scale for the second time since August 2017. The IBF stripped him of its junior lightweight title when he failed to make weight for his eighth-round knockout of Francisco Fonseca on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The 24-year-old Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) will defend his WBA super world super featherweight against Hugo Ruiz (39-4, 33 KOs) in the main event of Showtime’s tripleheader from Carson, California. Mexico’s Ruiz made weight on his first attempt Friday at the Los Angeles Airport Westin (129½ pounds).
Ruiz replaced former three-division champion Abner Mares on 10 days’ notice. Mares withdrew from his fight versus Davis last week, when he learned he suffered a detached retina in his right eye during a sparring session two weeks ago.
Earlier Friday, Las Vegas’ Sharif Bogere (32-1, 20 KOs) weighed in at 135½ pounds for his 10-round fight against the Dominican Republic’s Javier Fortuna (33-2-1, 23 KOs, 2 NC), who weighed 135 pounds.
San Antonio’s Mario Barrios (22-0, 14 KOs) officially weighed 142½ pounds for his 10-rounder versus Richard Zamora (19-2, 12 KOs). Mexico’s Zamora weighed 141½ pounds for a fight that had a contracted maximum catch weight of 143 pounds.
Showtime’s telecast is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, with coverage of the Bogere-Fortuna fight.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
2023-10-22 18:10:28
