Believe it or not, Deontay Wilder was actually lighter on fight night than he was at the weigh-ins for his fight vs. Tyson Fury.
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) is one of the bigger fighters in his division. In fact, he’s dropped from 229 lbs for his win vs. Eric Molina in 2015 to just 212.4 lbs for last Friday’s weigh-in vs. Tyson Fury, gradually losing weight with each title defense.
As part of its weight cutting reform efforts, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has been releasing fight night weights data for its boxing and MMA events, and their guidelines state that fighters whose fight night weight is more than 10% of their weigh-in day weight can be recommended to move up a division in the future. The heavyweight division on boxing has no limit, so the curiosity here is the fact that Deontay’s fight-day weight check was 209.4 lbs, three pounds lighter than his weigh-in!
On a Tuesday conference call, Wilder admitted he was caught off-guard by his fight-day weight and couldn’t explain how that happened. His brother Marsellos Wilder ended up doing the same thing for his undercard bout, contested at cruiserweight. As for Tyson Fury, he only gained 1.4 lbs from weigh-in to fight night.
Of the 22 fighters on Saturday’s card, only Jarrett Hurd and Isaac Lowe exceeded the 10% mark. Hurd is known as a massive junior middleweight who cuts a lot of weight, so this is not a surprise. It is important to note though that starting in 2019, Hurd either has to be within 10% of the contracted weight or he’ll be stripped of his titles. Meanwhile, Robert Guerrero and Josue Morales were just about bang-on the 10% mark.
The full fight night weights for the Wilder vs. Fury event can be reviewed below. Note that the official documentation rounded up or rounded down the weight variance percentages, so these are approximations.
PPV Card
Heavyweight: Deontay Wilder (212.4 lbs to 209.4 lbs ? -1%) vs. Tyson Fury (256.6 lbs to 258 lbs ? 1%)
Junior middleweight (154 lbs): Jarrett Hurd (152.6 lbs to 172 lbs ? 13%) vs. Jason Welborn (152.6 lbs to 164.4 lbs ? 8%)
Heavyweight: Luis Ortiz (241 lbs to 246 lbs ? 2%) vs. Travis Kauffman (229 lbs to 237.2 lbs ? 4%)
Heavyweight: Joe Joyce (262 lbs to 262.2 lbs ? 0%) vs. Joe Hanks (247.6 lbs to 247.8 lbs ? 0%)
Non-televised undercard
Middleweight (160 lbs): Julian Williams (155.6 lbs to 167.6 lbs ? 8%) vs. Francisco Javier Castro (154.8 lbs to 165.4 lbs ? 7%)
Minimumweight (105 lbs): Mark Anthony Barriga (103.6 lbs to 110.6 lbs ? 7%) vs. Carlos Licona (104.8 lbs to 113.6 lbs ? 8%)
Cruiserweight (200 lbs): Marsellos Wilder (189.8 lbs to 186.8 lbs ? -2%) vs. David Damore (199.6 lbs to 210.6 lbs ? 6%)
Super-flyweight (115 lbs): Jessie Rodriguez (113.4 lbs to 120.8 lbs ? 7%) vs. Josue Morales (115.8 lbs to 127.8 lbs ? 10%)
Heavyweight: Chris Arreola (245 lbs to 246.2 lbs ? 0%) vs. Maurenzo Smith (271 lbs to 269.2 lbs ? -1%)
Welterweight (147 lbs): Robert Guerrero (146.6 lbs to 161.2 lbs ? 10%) vs. Adam Mate (145.6 lbs to 146.6 lbs ? 1%)
Featherweight (126 lbs): Isaac Lowe (124.4 lbs to 141.6 lbs ? 14%) vs. Lucas Rafael Baez (125.6 lbs to 132.8 lbs ? 6%)