Weigh-In Report: All Fighters Within Featherweight Limit For ESPN+ Title Fight Doubleheader
All four featherweights made weight for a title fight doubleheader this weekend.
Mexicali’s Luis Alberto Lopez was a fighting fit 125.3 pounds for the third defense of his IBF 126-pound title. The Ring’s No. 2-rated featherweight will face mandatory challenger Reiya Abe, No. 8 at 126 by Ring who weighed 125.8 pounds for his first career title fight.
Otabek Kholmatov and Raymond Ford were both under the featherweight limit for their vacant WBA title fight.
Uzbekistan’s Kholmatov—who lives and trains in Hollywood, Florida—weighed 125.8 pounds, while Ford—a southpaw from Camden, New Jersey—was 125.9 pounds.
The pair of unbeaten featherweights enter their first career title fight.
Both bouts co-headline a nine-fight show presented by Top Rank this Saturday on ESPN+ from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Lopez (29-2, 16 knockouts), 30, has won his last twelve contests. The run includes three wins in the U.K.—a seventh-round knockout of Isaac Lowe in their Dec. 2021 IBF title eliminator; a Dec. 2022 majority decision win over two-time IBF titlist Josh Warrington (31-3-1, 8 KOs; No. 7 at 126) to win the belt in Leeds and then a rousing fifth-round knockout of Michael Conlan to defend it last May 27 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In his most recent outing, Lopez outpointed three-time title challenger Joet Gonzalez (26-4, 15 KOs) last September 15 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Abe (25-3-1, 10 KOs; No. 8 at 126) makes his U.S. debut. The 30-year-old southpaw from Yamato, Kanagawa has fought exclusively in Japan throughout his eleven-year pro career. He earned the title opportunity with a twelve-round, unanimous decision over former two-division titlist Kiko Martinez last April 8 in Tokyo. The win was his sixth in a row.
Kholmatov (12-0, 11 KOs) fights for the title exactly 52 weeks to the day he became the mandatory challenger. The 25-year-old Uzbek emerged to the top spot after a fifth-round knockout of Thomas Patrick Ward in their March 4 title eliminator between unbeaten contenders in Newcastle, England.
Ford (14-0-1, 7 KOs) last fought on April 8, when he soundly outpointed former 122-pound titleholder Jessie Magdaleno (29-2, 18 KOs) in San Antonio, Texas. The 24-year-old contender—who is promoted by Matchroom Boxing—pushed for a fight versus Kholmatov, regardless of stakes. However, the bout made more sense to wait after it was learned that Nottingham’s Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) planned to vacate the WBA title after his seventh-round knockout win over Warrington last October 7 in Sheffield, England.
Preliminary undercard, ESPN+, Saturday, 5:20 p.m. ET.
Brian Norman Jr (25-0, 19 KOs), Conyers, Georgia, 148.4 pounds vs. Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (17-2-1, 11 KOs), Detroit, 146.6 pounds—10 rounds, welterweight
Bryce Mills (14-1, 5 KOs), Liverpool, New York, 138.7 pounds vs. Gerffred Ngayot (6-1, 5 KOs), Buffalo via Brazzaville, Congo, 138.7 pounds—6 rounds, junior welterweight
Troy Isley (11-0, 4 KOs), Alexandria, Virginia, 159.3 pounds vs. Marcos Hernandez (16-6-2, 3 KOs), Fresno, California, 160.6 pounds—8 rounds, middleweight
Rohan Polanco (11-0, 7 KOs) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 143.2 pounds vs. Tarik Zaina (13-0-1, 8 KOs), Tijuana via Tangier, Morocco, 142.4 pounds—8 rounds, welterweight
Floyd Diaz (10-0, 3 KOs), Las Vegas, 118 pounds vs. Edwin Rodriguez (12-7-2, 5 KOs), Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, 117.8 pounds—8 rounds, bantamweight
Nico Ali Walsh (8-1, 5 KOs), Las Vegas via Chicago, 156.9 pounds vs. Charles Stanford (7-5, 4 KOs), Cincinnati, Ohio, 155.1 pounds—6 rounds, middleweight (157-pound contracted limit)
Brandon Moore (13-0, 8 KOs), Lakeland, Florida, 242 pounds vs. Helaman Olguin (9-6-1, 4 KOs), South Jordan, Utah, 281.7 pounds—8 rounds, heavyweight
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox
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