It took two attempts but Jeff Horn, the WBO welterweight champion, successfully made weight for his clash against Terence Crawford tomorrow.
Horn weighed in at 147.5 pounds (66.9kg) on his first go, before returning to weigh right on the limit at 147 pounds (66.67kg).
Post weigh-in, in an interview captured by FightHype.com, Horn told the media that he wasn’t rattled despite having to go back to cutting weight, suggesting this was part of Top Ranks plans.
“I had to go upstairs to have a hot shower for a few minutes,” Horn said.
“I wasn’t stressed as I knew this is exactly what their team wanted. I suppose someone has dodged up the scale because we were rock bang on the scale, even underweight. I think there was some tricks up the sleeves for this one.
Horn’s trainer Glen Rushton doubled down on the claim.
“The problem was that they had a set of scales that Top Rank provided in the dressing rooms and they said they were definitely right,” Rushton told the media.
“We went by those and had a margin of error and we get down here and they apparently underweight. Like in the amateurs, they generally have a test set of scales and I can’t for the life of me understand that an event of this magnitude, you don’t have another set, the same, at the back here. The fighters can all check their weight before they come to the official set and that would save from all these problems.
“Doesn’t mean anything. He has made weight. We have a fight here on Saturday (Sunday in Australia) and we’re ready. We ready and nothing will derail us and Terence better be ready as well as we mean business,” the long-time coach of the champ said.
Crawford’s promoter refuted the claims, calling them “ridiculous” before adding, “scales were calibrated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission earlier in the day. They are watched by the commission and the security people. It is, what it is. Guys were overweight. It could have went the same way for Crawford.”
