Jose Zepeda had to strip naked, but he made weight on his second attempt Friday afternoon for his fight against Ivan Baranchyk on Saturday night.
Zepeda stepped on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s scale a second time at 139.9 pounds. The La Puente, California, native weighed 140.2 pounds on his first attempt, slightly above the junior welterweight limit of 140 for their 10-round bout at MGM Grand Conference Center.
The Russian-born Baranchyk officially weighed in at 139.6 pounds on his first try.
ESPN+ will stream Zepeda-Baranchyk as the main event of an eight-fight card that’ll start at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
The winner of their WBC eliminator will move closer to a shot at WBC super lightweight champion Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs). Zepeda (32-2, 25 KOs, 1 NC) is the WBC’s second-ranked contender for Ramirez’s title, four spots atop the sixth-ranked Baranchyk (20-1, 13 KOs).
Ramirez barely beat Zepeda in February 2019, when he won a questionable majority decision in their 12-rounder at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
Baranchyk, 27, and Zepeda, 31, will meet Saturday night nearly three months after they were supposed to fight. Baranchyk pulled out of their bout scheduled for July 7 late in June once he sustained a rib injury in a sparring session.
Zepeda instead out-boxed Baranchyk’s replacement, San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda (17-2, 8 KOs, 1 NC), and won a unanimous decision in their 10-rounder July 7 at MGM Grand Conference Center.
Moments earlier Friday, Gabriel Flores Jr. (18-0, 6 KOs) and Ryan Kielczewski (30-4, 11 KOs) made weight for their 10-round lightweight bout, the co-featured fight Saturday night.
Flores, of Stockton, California, came in at 131.7 pounds. Kielczewski, of Quincy, Massachusetts, weighed in at 131 pounds.
Below are weights for the remainder of the Zepeda-Baranchyk undercard.
Guido Vianello (7-0, 7 KOs), Rome, Italy, 238.7 pounds vs. Kingsley Ibeh (5-1, 4 KOs), Phoenix, 276.8 pounds, 6 rounds, heavyweights.
Duke Ragan (1-0, 1 KO), Cincinnati, 126.4 pounds vs. John Moraga (1-1, 1 KO), Phoenix, 127.7 pounds, 4 rounds, featherweights.
Frevian Gonzalez (3-0, 1 KO), Cidra, Puerto Rico, 131.8 pounds vs. Carlos Marrero (2-3-1, 0 KOs), Bridgeport, Connecticut, 130.5 pounds, 4 rounds, lightweights.
James Barnes (1-0, 1 KO), Pine City, Minnesota, 290.6 pounds vs. Mitchell Sipe (pro debut), Bakersfield, California, 248.9 pounds, 4 rounds, heavyweights.
Haven Brady Jr. (pro debut), Albany, Georgia, 125.9 pounds vs. Gorwar Karyah (2-1, 2 KOs), Philadelphia, 124 pounds, 4 rounds, featherweights.
Matthew Reed (1-0, 1 KO), Bakersfield, California, 149.6 pounds vs. JJ Mariano (2-0, 1 KO), Reno, Nevada, 144 pounds, 4 rounds, junior middleweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.