LAS VEGAS – Jorge Linares made the lightweight limit so comfortably for his fight against Devin Haney that the former champion is confident he could get down to the junior lightweight maximum of 130 pounds if necessary.
The Venezuelan veteran officially weighed 134 pounds Friday for their 12-round, 135-pound championship match Saturday night. Haney stepped on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s scale at 135 pounds even for a main event DAZN will stream from Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.
The 22-year-old Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) will make a third defense of his WBC world lightweight title. The Oakland native is listed by most Internet sports books as at least a 12-1 favorite versus Linares (47-5, 29 KOs), who has won world titles in three weight classes.
The 35-year-old Linares appears to be the best opponent of Haney’s five-year pro career, but each of the Tokyo resident’s five defeats have come by technical knockout.
The official weights for the seven Haney-Linares undercard fights Saturday night are listed below.
DAZN (8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT)
Chantelle Cameron (13-0, 7 KOs), Northampton, England, 139.2 pounds vs. Melissa Hernandez (23-7-3, 7 KOs), Miami Beach, Florida, 136.2 pounds, 10 rounds for Cameron’s WBC women’s super lightweight title.
Jason Quigley (18-1, 14 KOs), Ballybofey, Ireland, 159.4 pounds vs. Shane Mosley Jr. (17-3, 10 KOs), Pomona, California, 160 pounds, 10 rounds for the NABO middleweight title.
Martin Joseph Ward (24-1-2, 11 KOs), Brentwood, England, 129.6 pounds vs. Azinga Fuzile (14-1, 8 KOs), East London, South Africa, 129.2 rounds, IBF junior lightweight elimination match.
Khalil Coe (pro debut), Jersey City, New Jersey, 176.2 pounds vs. Nathaniel Tadd (2-4, 1 KO), Houston, 179 pounds, 4 rounds, cruiserweights.
Matchroom Boxing’s YouTube channel (6:20 p.m. EDT; 3:20 p.m. PDT)
Reshat Mati (9-0, 7 KOs), Staten Island, New York, 145.8 pounds vs. Ryan Pino (8-6-2, 4 KOs), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 146.8 pounds, 6 rounds, welterweights.
Ramla Ali (2-0, 0 KOs), London, 124 pounds vs. Mikayla Nebel (4-8, 1 KO), Las Vegas, 124.6 pounds, 6 rounds, featherweights.
Armani Jones (1-0, 1 KO), Las Vegas, 153.6 pounds vs. Jonathan Ryan Burns, Frederick, Maryland, 153 pounds, 4 rounds, junior middleweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.