Another world title fight has been affected by a fighter missing weight.
One day before he was set to fight for the IBF bantamweight title on the undercard of the Tony Bellew vs. David Haye fight taking place on May 5, Paul Butler was more than three pounds over the 118-pound limit (121.3 pounds) and has been ruled ineligible to win the IBF title on May 5 when he faces Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Butler had a chance to shed the excess weight in a two-hour window after his first weigh-in but did not return to the scales, meaning Rodriguez, who came in at 117.5 pounds, is only eligible to win the title. Any other result would mean the title remains vacant.
Promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Scene that he was surprised at Butler missing weight by a lot, but has no idea as to why Butler came in so overweight.
“I’ve no idea what happened there. Whenever that happens and you come in that much over the weight, usually something has happened in camp. It’s not like you’ve just misjudged it, you’ve either been ill, injured or even just unable to train for a few days," Hearn said.
The title was vacated by former champion Ryan Burnett after Burnett, who is also the WBA champion, elected to fight the WBA's mandatory challenger instead of fighting Rodriguez, the IBF's mandatory challenger.
As for the main event, a heavyweight rematch between former world champions Bellew and Haye, both came in lighter than their first encounter last year. Bellew weighed in at 210.4 pounds while Haye weighed in at 220.2 pounds.
