Australian boxer Liam Wilson has sensationally accused opponent Emanuel Navarrete of tampering with the scales to make weight for their world title clash in Phoenix.
Wilson (12 fights, 11 wins, one loss) raised eyebrows when he tipped the scales at 126.3 pounds [57.3kg], almost three pounds lighter than his Mexican opponent and almost four pounds below the 130lb super-featherweight limit. Navarrete (37 fights, 36 wins, one loss), an overwhelming favourite who hasn’t tasted defeat in over a decade, weighed in at 129.2 pounds (58.6kg).
Australian boxer Liam Wilson (right) and Mexican Emanuel Navarrete pose after their controversial weigh-in in Phoenix.
Wilson was stunned by the official figures given he had weighed in almost four pounds heavier on the very same scales just 20 minutes earlier. Speaking to the Herald from Arizona just moments after stepping off the scales, the Queenslander accused the Navarrete camp of cheating in order to make weight.
“I feel they have tampered with the scales and made it lighter for him,” Wilson said. “He just scraped under weight by not even a pound. There is something fishy happening there, for sure.
“I made weight a bit too comfortably. The weight I was, I haven’t been that light since I was 16 years old. I checked my weight before the official weigh-in and I just made weight by not even half a pound. Twenty minutes later, the official weigh-in came about and I was four pounds lighter. That’s nearly featherweight.”
Wilson believes Navarrete, who has won two world titles in lighter divisions, has come into the contest for the vacant WBO world title at the Desert Diamond Arena on Saturday afternoon [AEDT] under-prepared.
A world title goes on the line in Arizona.
“I could tell in his face – he had glasses on again – that his face was very sunken in,” Wilson said. For him to come in heavy for super-featherweight – a weight he is supposed to be moving up in – it’s unprofessional on his part.”
It’s not the first time Wilson has had to contend with a weigh-in controversy. The Queenslander avenged his only loss, to Joe Noynay, with a devastating knockout win in their rematch last year despite the Filipino coming in almost four kilograms over the limit.
“I’ve been here before, and I know what is at stake with a world title,” Wilson said. “It makes me grow in confidence because it’s a clear sign they haven’t prepared properly.
“Everything is lining up. It’s not the way I wanted it to play out, but it is what it is, it’s out of my control. I’ve prepared to win this fight, I’ve prepared for the guy who has won two world titles in different weight divisions, that’s who I’ve prepared for. I’m going to beat that guy come fight night.”
Liam Wilson believes he can spring an upset.
Veteran Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, whose firm is staging the contest, denied the scales were tampered with.
“Oh come on, this is Arizona, nobody f—s with the scales,” Arum told reporters. “Everyone else made the weight, for Christ’s sake. There were no other aberrations. I hate all these conspiracy theories in boxing.”
Wilson’s father, Peter, died when the pugilist was still only 16. Before he passed, the now 26-year-old promised his dad that he would win a world title.
“He will be very proud of me when I win,” Wilson said. “It’s a big thing for me to do, it’s a fight I have to take now. I know what is at stake, a world title is at the end of it and I’m one fight away from that, one day away.
“It will be very sweet when I come home [with the belt] after all the sacrifices. I’ve always said I will take all the risks and challenges and here I am again. It will make him very proud.”
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