Bivol vs Smith Jr: Maurice Hooker makes weight, keeps WBO belt for title defense

Badlefthook.com

Well, it was a long afternoon into the early evening waiting for all of tomorrow’s action to be set, starting with Shawn Porter missing weight and then making it two hours later for his PBC on FOX main event, and now we’ve got the same outcome in the case of WBO junior welterweight titleholder Maurice Hooker, who fights tomorrow night on DAZN.

Hooker (25-0-3, 17 KO) was a half-pound over the 140-pound limit earlier today, but after a long two hours and several attempts to make weight, he finally was able to do so right as time was set to expire, tipping the scales at 140 pounds, meaning he still has his belt and he’ll defend it tomorrow tonight against Mikkel LesPierre (21-0-1, 10 KO).

That’s the good news. The bad news, as mentioned earlier, is that there was talk this afternoon before the weigh-in that Hooker was five pounds the limit. When he first weighed in earlier, he didn’t look at all confident, and he hit the scales naked immediately. He came in just a half-pound over, sure, but he looked like someone who had lost all the weight there was to lose.

Getting that extra half-pound off clearly was not down to just going to the bathroom — in fact, it was tweeted that he tried that at least twice — and there could be some real cause for concern as to how he’s going to perform tomorrow night once the bell sounds.