LAS VEGAS – Luis Nery’s inability to make weight was a break for Leduan Barthelemy and Eduardo Ramirez on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz II card Saturday at MGM Grand.
Nery on Friday failed to make the 118-pound limit by one pound for his bantamweight fight against Emmanuel Rodriguez and evidently didn’t believe he could lose it in subsequent attempts to make weight. Rodriguez, who made weight, then decided not to face an over-the-weight opponent because of “safety reasons”and the fight was canceled, according to a news release.
As a result, the featherweight fight between Barthelemy and Ramirez, originally scheduled to be televised on FS2, will kick off the Pay-Per-View portion of the card.
Barthelemy (15-0-1, 7 KOs) and Ramirez (22-2-3, 9 KOs), a former title challenger, fought to a 10-round draw in September 2017.
Also, Julio Ceja was 4½ pounds over the 122-limit for his fight against Brandon Figueroa but the fight will go on. Figueroa weighed 122.