By Anthony Montero: It was an absolutely packed house at the MGM Grand as over 10,000 fans came out for the Canelo-GGG official weigh-in! The line stretched from well beyond the lobby and once the doors opened boxing fans flooded the arena, with not an empty seat to be found. Hearing the cheers from the audience it was obvious this was a pro Canelo crowd, however the GGG fans presence was most certainly felt.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions)
The atmosphere was electric, fans jumping out of their seats and screaming as their fighters made their way to the stage. The lineal Middleweight Championship of the world is on the line as both Canelo and GGG made weight coming in at exactly 160lbs. The fighters appeared to be in excellent shape and ready for war tomorrow night. GGG as usual showed the occasional smile and waved to the crowd, while Canelo was all business shadow boxing and looking serious as ever. Judging by both men’s physique this should turn out to be an explosive war ending in a dramatic fasion. Neither fighter seemed to be content with a decision win, if body language means anything, a knockout is what they are both gunning for. This match up has already been billed as the fight of the year, and going by the energy in the arena it could potentially turn out to be fight of the decade.
Canelo – 160 – GGG​ – 160
The first scheduled PPV bout features the American lightweight prospect Ryan Martin of Chattanooga, TN. He showed to be in excellent shape without and ounce of fat on his body, standing freakishly tall for a lightweight at 5’10. Martin seemed loose and focused, ready to claim his 20th win, however he has to get through his quality opponent Francisco Rojo of Mexico City, Mexico. Francisco appeared to be in decent shape, although he failed to make weight coming in one half pound over the lightweight limit.
Martin – 135 – Rojo – 135 1/2
The second scheduled fight is a major step up for Oscar De La Hoya’s cousin Diego De La Hoya of Mexicali, Mexico. The undefeated prospect looked to be in solid shape, however, a bit nervous when making his way to the scales. This is definitely the largest event of his young career, hopefully he can calm his nerves by the tomorrow evening. His opponent, former Bantamweight titlist Randy Caballero of Coachella, California, seemed very confident and at home while on the scales. Bad blood is evident between these two as during the stare down words were exchanged and a shoving match erupted, causing promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins to break up the two. This fight is interesting on many levels and should end up being a quite entertaining scrap.
Caballero – 121 – De La Hoya 122
The co-main event is a WBC Featherweight title eliminator featuring the undefeated prosepects Joseph Diaz Jr. of South El Monte, California and Rafeal Rivera of Tijuana, Mexico. Diaz Jr. looked good physically for the weigh-in and energized while on stage cracking smiles joking with audience. Rivera appeared to be in excellent shape physically although oddly failed to make weight coming in 1lbs over the limit. However 30 minutes later reports from Rivera’s camp claim he has since made weight evening the scales at 126, although this has yet to be officially confirmed.
Diaz Jr. – 126 – Rivera – 126?
