Boxing.com

The Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard, California is the boxing gym du jour. Hosannas have been lavished on the trainer and rightfully so. He has proven himself a winner and there’s no arguing with success. By the same token, we shouldn’t run for cover at the first sign of failure, or the third sign of failure, even if that failure was to make weight before a major fight.

WBO featherweight champion Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia (31-0, 26 KOs), Robert’s nephew and one of the brightest young stars in boxing’s galaxy, lost his title on the scale yesterday, one day before his HBO Boxing After Dark fight with Juan Manuel Lopez (33-2, 30 KOs) at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Looking drawn and concerned, Garcia came in two pounds over the 126-pound featherweight limit.

Lopez, by contrast, looking fit as a fiddle, made weight at 125¼ and was displeased at his opponent’s lack of professionalism.

“Maybe he is the better professional in the ring,” said Juanma, “but he is no professional on the scale.”

Fancy footwork commenced. Top Rank tried to staunch the bleeding. Contradictory statements were made. The fight was off. Then the fight was on.

Finally Lopez agreed to meet Garcia after receiving a payoff “in excess of six figures.” If Juanma wins Saturday night, he becomes the WBO champ. If Garcia wins, he moves up to super featherweight.

If weigh-ins were conducted on the day of the fight, which makes sense historically and in terms of the fighter’s health, these glitches would not occur. But incessant tampering—sometimes well-intentioned and sometimes not—has diminished the sport, and the idea of fighters losing their titles on the scale, once all but unthinkable, has become too common for the uncommon good of the sweet science.