The World Boxing Council has suspended Andres Gutierrez after he weighed 11 lbs over the super featherweight limit in coming in at an incredible 141 lbs during Friday’s weigh-in for his main event fight against Oscar Valdez.
(Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/ Top Rank)
This was a WBC 130-lb title eliminator that the WBC had approved between Gutierrez and former WBO featherweight champion Valdez (26-0, 20 KOs).
The WBC will be conducting an investigation of Gutierrez to find out why he came in so far above the limit.
Valdez weighed in successfully at 129.8 lbs. If he wins his fight against Adam Lopez on Saturday, then he’ll be facing WBC super featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt next.
“What just happened in Las Vegas is of extreme concern. Gutierrez weighs in 11 pounds over the weight limit in the WBC final elimination scheduled for super feather. Gutiérrez is officially suspended by the WBC and we will initiate a thorough investigation of the facts.” Mauricio Sulaiman, President of the WBC said to wBCboxing.com.
Despite Gutierrez, 26, coming in over the limit, Valdez still wanted to fight him, but there was no chance of that happening. Both the Commission and Top Rank wouldn’t allow it.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum blew his stack moments after #5 WBO Gutierrez (38-2-1, 25 KOs) weighed in 11 lbs over the limit, saying that he was going to have to leave his hotel immediately, that he would be looking for a replacement to step in to fight Valdez. Arum quickly found Adam Lopez (13-1, 6 KOs), and he’ll be facing Valdez in the main event.
“We’re throwing him out of the hotel. 2/3lbs that’s unprofessional, but to come in 11lbs over is a f***ing disgrace. I’ve never seen anything like it… Oscar Valdez trained his a– off… 11lbs over is a joke,” said Arum.
Valdez and Lopez will be fighting this Saturday night at the The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. ESPN+ will be streaming the fight. In the co-feature, former two division world champion Carl Frampton faces Tyler McCreary in a 10 round fight. Lopez, 23, was scheduled to fight Luis Coria on the undercard in a 10 round fight, but he was happy to face Valdez in the headliner bout.
With Gutierrez missing weight by 11 lbs, Arum said there was no way that he would be able to face Valdez. The Nevada Commission would never agree to the fight with Gutierrez that heavy. Arum further said that he’ll never use Gutierrez again one of his fights, and he won’t work with the people from his team that brought him over.
Someone from Gutierrez’s team slipped up with him being this heavy. It’s unclear why they didn’t give Top Rank a heads up to alert them that he wouldn’t be able to make weight for the fight. If they had done that, then they could have saved Top Rank the trouble of including Gutierrez at the weigh-in, and they would have given them more time to find a replacement.
“I trained hard for three months making the sacrifices, and I am very upset with Andres Gutierrez,” Valdez said. “He was unprofessional. As soon as I heard 141 pounds, I still wanted to fight him, but my team and Bob Arum said Gutierrez was out. I give credit to Adam Lopez for stepping up. It will be a great fight tomorrow night.”
