DMITRY BIVOL, JEAN PASCAL MAKE WEIGHT FOR FINAL HBO WCB CARD

Ahead of HBO’s final broadcast of World Championship Boxing, Dmitry Bivol and Jean Pascal handled their end of the bargain with the scales.

Bivol (14-0, 11 knockouts) will make the third defense of the WBA light heavyweight title and weighed in at 174.4 pounds. Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KOs), a former WBC beltholder who was one of the division’s top fighters a decade ago, was slightly heavier at 174.6 at Friday’s weigh-in.

The two pressed foreheads at their staredown in such a way that would draw a warning from the referee if it happened tomorrow night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Bivol pressed his fist to Pascal’s chest, and New Jersey commissioner Larry Hazzard Sr. separated the two before matters escalated.

Bivol, 27, of Saint Petersburg, Russia is nine years younger than Pascal of Laval, Canada. Pascal had been skidding towards the end of his career in the last few years after two stoppage losses to Sergey Kovalev, plus a majority decision loss last year to Eleider Alvarez which has aged well since, but has stopped two opponents straight since then.

The fighters in the co-feature also had little issues on the scales, as Murodjon Akhmadaliev (4-0, 3 KOs) weighed 121.2 pounds and Isaac Zarate (16-3-3, 2 KOs) weighed 122 pounds. Akhmadaliev of Namangan, Uzbekistan was a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics in the bantamweight division, losing on points to eventual gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez.

Also on the card, Evgeny Tishchenko (2-0, 1 KOs), the 2016 gold medalist in the heavyweight division, will make his U.S. debut against Christian Mariscal (11-1, 5 KOs). Tishchenko, 27, weighed 212 pounds while Mariscal was 246.4.

The two-fight broadcast will begin at 10 p.m. EST.