Both men made weight, and neither needed the last hour to do it.
Conor Benn weighed 146lbs for his WBC welterweight title challenge against Ryan Garcia. Garcia followed him onto the scales a little later at 145.5lbs. Both cleared the 147 limit with room to spare.
That was not how the week had gone. The cut has been the story throughout, with Benn saying repeatedly that getting back to 147 for the first time in four years has been brutal. He has fought as high as middleweight against Chris Eubank Jr and last appeared at a 150lb catchweight against Regis Prograis in April, and he has said he moves back up straight after Saturday regardless of the result.
Garcia spent the week needling him about it. He skipped a scheduled faceoff on Tuesday and posted “back to the sauna you go” instead. He also asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission for an exception on glove size, so both men could stay in 8oz gloves rather than move up to 10 if Benn came in heavy. That request had some wondering whether Garcia was the one in trouble.
Making weight is not the whole picture. Hard cuts tend to show up later in the night, in punch resistance or in the closing rounds, even after rehydration. The ceremonial weigh-in follows this evening.
The fight headlines a Zuffa Boxing and Ring Magazine card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Jai Opetaia meeting Noel Mikaelian in the co-main at 199lbs. It streams on Paramount+ in the United States and on DAZN in the UK and Ireland.
