Mexican 115 lbs contender Jonathan Rodriguez has foiled his opportunity to become a world champion after weighing more than 6.4 pounds over the 115 lbs limit, which resulted in his fight with Kosei Tanaka being cancelled. The card itself, set to be headlined by Japanese WBO bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, will still commence tomorrow on July 20th.
Japanese WBO super flyweight (115 lbs) champion Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KO’s) will also no longer compete on the card following the cancellation of his title defense bout against Jonathan Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 KO’s).
The weigh-ins were conducted earlier today at the Kokukigan Arena where the July 20th Tanaka-Rodriguez fight was set to take place, but witnessed Rodriguez egregiously weigh in as a super bantamweight (122 lbs), according to Tanaka himself.
“The match is cancelled. The opponent was 2.9 kg over the limit and gave up on the re-weigh-in. Taking into consideration the physical condition of the opponent and the fact that a fight that has been declared invalid is not a good thing, the decision to cancel the match has been made. Tomorrow I will be appearing in the ring with a microphone instead of gloves. We apologize for the unfortunate news.”
Based on Tanaka’s statements, Rodriguez had further not made any attempts to lose more weight after weighing in at 2.9 kg [6.4 lbs] at the official weigh-in. Disturbingly, this could further suggest that Rodriguez had likely already been facing weight issues the week, or even two weeks, prior. During that time, it would have been proper conduct to alert Tanaka of his inability to make the required weight and allow Tanaka a slim chance of finding an opponent so as to not waste his efforts in training and preparing for his title defense.
Coupled with costs for training camp and other expenditures that Tanaka had to deal with, Rodriguez has potentially set himself up for a legal battle if Tanaka chooses to pursue it. He will further be fined accordingly by the overseeing governing body of the event, the Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC).
