Diego De La Hoya Overweight, Fight Pulled From ESPN Card

The featherweight division is likely looming for Diego De La Hoya.

He was scheduled to headline an ESPN 2 televised event on Thursday, with a bout against veteran Jose Salgado topping the Golden Boy promoted card in California.

But the fight was been pulled after De La Hoya was not even close to the contract weight.

De La Hoya (20-0, 9 KOs), 23 years old, was coming off the biggest win of his career - when he dominated former world champion Randy Caballero as part of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin HBO pay-per-view event in September.

According to The Desert Sun, De La Hoya was set to face Salgado at a catch-weight of 124-pounds - but the fight was canceled after the undefeated boxer was reportedly at least four pounds over the limit - but the exact figure is unknown.

Golden Boy tried to arrange for the fight to proceed as scheduled, under a different weight, but Salgado’s team declined - especially after their boxer weighed in at 122-pounds. De La Hoya never took to the scale.

“Between both sides, an agreement couldn’t be made for the fight to continue, so we had to scratch the fight,” said Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz said to the paper. “I applaud Salgado and his team, and I’m very sorry on behalf of Diego. I know he was here, he was disappointed, he tried. Sometimes your body shuts down and he couldn’t reach the weight.”

“He’s coming off his biggest win to date, and obviously you want to continue that. I don’t know; his body is growing, he’s young, that’s something we’ll have to sit down with his team and realize, ‘Is he going to stick at 122, if he can’t make it healthy?’ And if not, let’s go to 126.”

The Golden Boy card will still go on as scheduled - with Carlos Morales (16-2-3, 6 KOs), coming off a loss to current world champion Alberto Machado, being elevated to the main event position. He takes on Dardan Zenunaj (14-3, 11 KOs).