ATLANTA – Neither Mario Barrios nor Gervonta Davis can step on the scale at more than 140 pounds when they weigh in Friday afternoon.
There is no limit to how much either fighter can weigh, however, when they step into the ring Saturday night at State Farm Arena. Davis didn’t want any weight restrictions placed on Barrios because he doesn’t want fans and media to criticize him for limiting the defending champion in their 12-round title fight.
“It really doesn’t matter,” Davis told BoxingScene.com following a press conference Thursday at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center. “If he come in too heavy, it’s gonna be more my advantage than his cuz he’s gonna be much slower. So, he better top it off at, you know, wherever he feel good at.”
Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) estimated that he’ll weigh no more than 152 pounds by the time the bell rings to begin their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event (9 p.m. EDT; $74.99).
“That’s not a ton,” Davis said. “That’s decent. That’s probably around fair because when I fight at 130, I come in at 139, 140.”
Baltimore’s Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) competed at the 130-pound limit in his last fight, a spectacular sixth-round knockout of Leo Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) on October 31 at Alamodome in San Antonio. Barrios could have almost a 10-pound advantage over Davis because the favored Davis expects to weigh between 143 and 145 pounds at the start of their fight for the San Antonio native’s WBA world super lightweight title.
The possibility of limiting his weight wouldn’t have been an issue for Barrios because he doesn’t add as many pounds as some boxers between the time he weighs in and the start of his fights.
“There’s never really a time where I blow up more than, you know, 12 pounds on the night of the fight,” Barrios said. “So, that wasn’t a concern during the negotiations for this fight.”
Regardless, Barrios believes his five-inch height advantage and his weight edge will quickly become significant factors during their fight.
“It’s gonna be a huge factor from round one,” Barrios said. “He has to deal with my range, my size and also, from the very first bell to the very last, he’s gonna be dealing with, you know, something he never has dealt with before.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
