By Elliot Foster
Kal Yafai has insisted that his fans will still get to see him in the ring this weekend.
The Birmingham super-flyweight was hit with a shock on Friday when his opponent failed the weight ahead of their world title fight.
Yafai (20-0, 14 KOs) was set to challenge Luis Concepcion for the WBA crown at 115 pounds, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
The fight will still take place, at Manchester Arena on Saturday as part of the supporting cast to Anthony Joshua’s second defence of the IBF heavyweight world title against America’s Eric Molina, but the circumstances surrounding the battle have now changed.
The 31-year-old Panamanian (35-4, 24 KOs) was 2.7lbs over the limit at the first attempt and was given time to try and lose the excess.
However, he returned to the scales having only managed to shift 0.3lbs.
His title was then declared vacant and Yafai, 27, was given the choice of walking away from the fight or boxing the overweight Concepcion, with the title only on the line for him.
And it’s a chance Yafai took with both hands, stating that the weight issue would not be a worry for him when the pair are in the ring.
“[I] didn't expect Luis Concepcion to come in overweight,” Yafai wrote on social media after the weigh-in at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse venue, “but it is what it is.
“I'm just concentrating on me. I've done everything 100 per cent correctly.
“I will 100 per cent be fighting tomorrow night. I have not worked all my life to shy away from the weight difference.
“Tomorrow night I will make my dreams come true [and] do whatever it takes to win that title.
“Thank you for the support it doesn't go unnoticed.”
If Yafai were to have passed up the opportunity to go through with the fight, there would have been no guarantee of him being next in line to fight for the vacant title as this was a voluntary defence for Concepcion.
Meanwhile, Jose Cayetano made the weight at the second attempt ahead of his clash with Scott Quigg for the vacant WBA International featherweight crown.
The Mexican scaled the nine-stone divisional limit on his second scale visit after originally coming in slightly over.
