FARCICAL WEIGH-IN WHERE BOTH CASIMERO AND CHAMPION RUENROENG WERE OVER THE FLYWEIGHT LIMIT BUT IBF ALLOWS TITLE FIGHT TO GO ON
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 25 May 2016
In what the Bangkok Post described as ?a farcical? weigh in which both IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand and challenger and former light flyweight champion John Reil Casimero were overweight, the IBF reportedly made a turn around on the request of the Chinese promoter and allowed the title fight to continue, claiming that the fighters were again weighed in their hotel and made the 112 pound limit while ordering another weigh-in this morning, hours before the title fight in Beijing.
In fact the Bangkok Post reporter Kittipong Thongsombat reported that Amnat apologized to his Thai fans and said this may be his last fight.
The 36 year old Thai initially lost his title on the scales after he weighed in at 117.34 pounds at the first attempt and 116.1 pounds at the second while Casimero also failed to make the limit weighing in at 113.32 on his first trip to the scales and 113.10 at the second try.
Casimero was some four pounds over the 112 pound limit when he left Manila for Beijing early Sunday after a final workout on Saturday.
Amnat said ?the weather was cold today and made it difficult for me to make the weight? which was the same excuse Casimero used during his final two days in Manila when the rains prevented him from doing his roadwork and also hampered his efforts to shed off excess poundage in the gym despite wearing a thermal suit.
Amnat however promised ?I will do my best later today.?
The Bangkok Post said ?later yesterday (Tuesday) after the organizers' intervention, the IBF made a U-turn and gave the green light for the bout to take place as a title fight.
Boxing Scene quoted IBF spokesperson Jeanette Salazar who explained that the weight issue arose after ?a mock weigh-in with the back drop of the Great Wall. Unfortunately, that wasn't properly communicated. It's not the most level ground or truly ideal for a real weigh-in. They were weighed at 4:30pm (local time) back at the hotel and both made weight."
Regrettably the media was not informed so they were not present at the hotel weigh-in to verify what took place.
The rematch was sanctioned by the IBF after a foul-infested bout in Thailand some eleven months ago when referee Larry Doggett was bitterly criticized for his lousy performance in which he failed to sanction Amnat for several infractions including two takedowns while calling a clear push by Amnat as a knockdown and
failing to call a timely left hook that dropped Amnat, a knockdown.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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