By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – As Nicholas Walters and his team prepared to leave the Top Rank boxing gym following an open workout Tuesday, they let it be known Walters was just about on weight three days early.
With Vasyl Lomachenko, his team and numerous reporters within earshot, Walters’ handlers said he had just tipped the scales between 130 and 131 pounds. The contracted weight for his showdown Saturday with Lomachenko, the WBO world super featherweight champ, is 130 pounds.
Jamaica’s Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs) and Ukraine’s Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) are scheduled to weigh in for their HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event at 4 p.m. PT Friday at The Cosmopolitan.
Two fights ago, Walters was forced to give up his WBA featherweight title at the scales because he failed to make the featherweight limit of 126 pounds prior to his June 2015 fight against Colombia’s Miguel Marriaga (24-1, 20 KOs). Marriaga made weight (125 pounds), but failed to win the title in a fight Walters won by the scores of 119-108, 118-109 and 117-110.
Walters weighed in at 127 pounds for the Marriaga match, one above the featherweight limit. He defeated Marriaga by unanimous decision in what was viewed as a dull 12-round fight that HBO broadcast from The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
According to Walters, he’ll have no such struggle making weight Friday for his second straight bout contracted for 130 pounds.
“My team of people, we did a great training camp over there in Panama,” Walters said during a conference call earlier this week. “And there’s no problem. This Friday’s the weigh-in, and we’ll be on weight. And Saturday night, we’ll be ready to fight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
