The weigh-ins earlier today for the Mosley-Mora PPV card were highlighted by two of the premier fighters being overweight, and one losing 20% of his purse as a result.
Mosley made the junior middleweight limit on his first try, coming in right at 154 pounds. Sergio Mora, who is natural 160 pounder, came in three pounds overweight at 157. He was advised that he faced a penalty of 20% of his purse ($53,000) if he did not lose the weight before fight night tomorrow (September 18). Amazingly, Mora was able to drop three pounds within an hour and come back to the scales at 153.6 pounds. However, the contract and regulations from the state of California resulted in Mora losing still losing the 20%.
Victor Ortiz missed the weight for his bout with Vivian Harris, which was contracted at 142 pounds. Harris came in at 142, while Ortiz tipped the scales at 143.5. A fine was not imposed, but Ortiz must lose the weight in order for the fight to proceed.
The remaining fighters on the undercard made their weights without incident.
Saul Alvarez (150.5 pounds) vs. Carlos Baldomir (153.4 pounds) – junior middleweight
Antonio Escalante (126 pounds) vs. Daniel Ponce de Leon (125.8) featherweight
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Wow! For those who missed it, check out the interview I did with Sergio Mora that posted yesterday. The first question I had concerned whether he could make 154 comfortably. Mora assured me that because he had 10 weeks he’d made it with no problem.
Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Even worse, I cannot imagine what condition he’ll be in tomorrow night after having to abuse (yes, dropping three pounds in an hour is abuse) his body in order to make the weight. Plus, he did all that just to get fined anyway! They’re both promoted by Golden Boy and I know Mosley is the bigger name, but Mora really got steamrolled on this one. I’m guessing Mosley refused to fight unless Mora got rid of his weight advantage. And for the inconvenience, Mora had to get hit in the wallet. Personally, that’d make me want Mosley’s blood tomorrow night if I was Mora.
But there may be a problem with that. Instead of the aggressive Mora we saw against Calvin Green in April, fans will likely see the lethargic Latin Snake that Vernon Forrest easily beat to the punch and outboxed back in September 2008. That Mora was similarly drained due to struggling to make junior middleweight.
These developments have unfortunately soured this fight for me. I gave Mora a very good chance to beat Shane, but now I think he won’t have the strength to be up for the task. If you’re a gambler, the safe bet looks to be a Shane Mosley victory tomorrow night.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 