Photos: Erislandy Lara, Brian Castaño hit the scales in Brooklyn
Erislandy Lara and Brian Castaño both made the junior middleweight limit on Friday for their main event fight the following day, with Lara (25-3-2, 14 knockouts) of Guantanamo, Cuba scaling 153.5 pounds and Castaño (15-0, 11 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 12-round fight headlines a Showtime Championship Boxing card from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. that starts at 9 p.m. ET.
The referee for Lara-Castaño is Ricky Gonzalez, and all three judges – Julie Lederman, John McKaie and Kevin Morgan are from New York. The bout will stake Castaño’s “regular” WBA title.
In the co-feature, Luis Ortiz (30-1, 26 KOs) weighed 238.75 pounds while Christian Hammer (24-5, 14 KOs) weighed 257.5 pounds. Ortiz is looking for his third straight win after his thrilling challenge of Deontay Wilder a year ago, while Hammer is looking to do the same in his U.S. debut.
The referee will be Shada Murdaugh with three N.Y. judges: John Basile, Joseph Pasquale and Waleska Roldan.
In a 12-round featherweight bout, Eduardo Ramirez (21-1-3, 8 KOs) initially weighed in heavy at 127 pounds but came back to the scales to check in at 125.8 pounds. Bryan De Gracia (24-1-1, 20 KOs) had no such issues, weighing in at 124.75 pounds.
Other weights:
Bantamweights – 8 rounds: Antonio Russell – 116 ½ pounds, Jose Maria Cardenas – 117 ½ pounds
Cruiserweights – 8/10 rounds: Edwin Rodriguez – 198 ¼ pounds, Mitch Williams – 195 ¾ pounds
Junior lightweights – 8 rounds: Leduan Barthelemy – 131 ¼ pounds, Miguel Angel Aispuro – 132 pounds
Below are photos from the weigh-in: