By Jeff Aranow: Robert Easter Jr. (21-1, 14 KOs) will be trying to get back to his winning ways against Rances Barthelemy (27-1, 14 KOs) in their fight for the vacant IBO and WBA World lightweight title this Saturday night live on Showtime World Championship Boxing at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Photo credit Sean Michael Ham/Mayweather Promotions)
A very thin looking 5’11” Easter weighed in at 133 ¾ pounds, which was well below the 135 lb weigh-in limit. Easter will likely put on 10 to 12 lbs overnight and come into the fight in the mid-140s on Saturday night. His opponent former two division world champion Barthelemy, 32, weighed in at 135 lbs on the dot. Barthelemy did a lot of smiling during the weigh-in.
Easter, 28, lost his last fight against former WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia by a 12 round unanimous decision last July at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Easter didn’t get hurt by Mikey, but he lost by the one-sided scores 118-109, 117-110 and 116-111. Mikey had too much punching power and talent for Easter in that fight. No matter what Easter tried, Mikey had an answer for it.
“Not only have I learned a lesson from fighting Mikey Garcia, but I also learn something new after every fight,” Easter Jr. said. “This fight is going to be a lot of action and I don’t think it’s going to make it to the final bell..”
The way that Mikey beat Easter, he would beat him even if they fought each other again. Mikey’s hand speed, timing and punching power was too much for Easter Jr. in that fight. Nothing would change in a rematch.
Viktor Postol vs. Mohamed Mimoune – weights
Former WBC light welterweight champion Viktor Postol (30-2, 12 KOs) weighed in at 139 1/2 pounds for his WBC 140 lb title eliminator against Mohamed Mimoune (21-2, 2 KOs) in the co-feature bout on Saturday’s Easter Jr. vs. Barthelemy card. #3 WBC Mimoune weighed in at 138 1/2 lbs. It’s unclear why the 31-year-old southpaw Mimoune came in so low today. He might have overdone it a bit when it came to dehydrating for the weigh-in. Hopefully he doesn’t pay the price on Saturday night against the always tough 35-year-old Postol.
“I’m ready to prove that I’m still one of the best,” Postol said. “I want to become world champion again. I’ve fought much better opponents than Mimoune and it will show on Saturday. My plan is to box, break him down and if the knockout comes, I’ll take it,” Postol said.
Postol lost to unbeaten Josh Taylor by a 12 round unanimous decision last June in Glasgow, Scotland. The fight was a lot closer than the scored turned in by the judges in the fight. Never the less, Postol did appear to lose the fight. It’s going to be hard for Postol to capture a world title in the short term, because Regis Prograis will likely get his hands on the belt, and he’ll be tough to beat. But Postol can get a shot at winning the WBC strap after Prograis moves up in weight to welterweight in the near future. What’s working against Postol being able to wait out guys like Prograis is his age. Postol is about to turn 36. He can’t afford to wait around too long to win another world title.
Postol has a good chance of beating the light hitting Mimoune. Postol can box as well as punch, and that makes him hard to beat in this fight. Mimoune hasn’t faced the same level of opposition as Postol, and that’s going to make it tough for him to adjust to what the Ukrainian fighter is going to be bringing to the table on Saturday night. Mimoune’s best career win since turning pro back nine years ago in 2010 was a victory over domestic level fighter Sam Eggington in October 2017. It was a good win for Mimoune, but it wasn’t against a world class fighter.
Other weights on the card:
Heavyweight Efe Ajagba weighed in at 241 lbs. for his fight against Michael Wallisch. He weighed in at 242 ½ lbs.