FILIPINO fighter Jhack Tepora suffered a double blackeye as early as Saturday after seeing his WBA interim featherweight belt got stripped and also having his fight in Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner cancelled.
Tepora, who was supposed to defend his title against Hugo Diaz, got stripped of the title after tipping the scales at 131 pounds during Saturday’s weigh in, five pounds over the featherweight limit.
The Cebuano boxer was given two hours to try to catch the 126 pound limit but to no avail. Promoter earlier reduced the match to a 10-round non-title bout but later opted to give Diaz a different opponent.
Tepora admitted to the Buzzer Beater that he became complacent of losing the needed weight in time as he arrived at Las Vegas over a week ago at 148 pounds.
“Hindi ko inakala na ganito pala kalamig ang klima dito sa Las Vegas,” Tepora said. “Kasi ‘nung sa huling laban ko (sa Malaysia) nagawa ko namang maabot ‘yung weight ko.”
“Nasanay na din kasi ang katawan ko sa ganun (paghahabol ng timbang) ‘yun lang sayang kasi nawala ‘yung belt, na cancel pa ‘yung laban. US debut ko pa naman sana,” he added.
Despite his difficulty in reaching his featherweight weight limit, Tepora is non-committal to the possibility of moving up in weight class in his next bout.
Aside from Tepora, Filipino Genisis Libranza also saw his bout with veteran fighter Carlos Buitrago got cancelled with the latter tipping the scales six pounds over.
Libranza admitted that he was disappointed that the bout was cancelled due to strict rules by Nevada State Athletic Commission even if it is a non-title bout.
“Sayang at hindi matutuloy ang laban ko dahil over sa limit ‘yung kalaban ko. Mahigpit kasi sila dito,” said Libranza, who added that the clash will instead be held on Feb. 9.
The cancellation of Tepora and Libranza’s bouts leaves just two Filipinos fighting in Pacquiao-Broner undercard in US-based Rey Perez (against Aussie George Kambosos Jnr) and Jayar Inson (against Jonathan Steele).
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Filipino fighter Rey Perez has been fighting in the United States for the past few years but his match against Australian George Kambosos Jnr today at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada is something he cannot forget in his boxing career.
It will be the first time for the Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte native Perez to be added to the undercard of Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao, who will defend his WBA welterweight title against American Adrien Broner.
“I am excited about my upcoming fight because I am going to be part of Manny Pacquiao’s undercard for the first time,” said Perez. “Of course it’s a dream for me to be part of sir Manny’s fight card.”
Perez said even if he is just a late addition to the card, he believes that he is conditioned and will be giving Kambosos a tough time in the fight card scheduled for eight rounds.
“I am in good shape naman in fact I fought thrice last year here in US,” said the 28-year-old Perez, who is on a hot streak after tallying knockout victories in his last two matches against veteran Roberto Marroquin and Christian Gonzales late last year.
Perez will be entering the match with 24-10-0 win-loss-draw ring record, including eight stoppage wins, while Kambosos has an unblemished 15-0-0 card, with nine wins via stoppages./PN
