Natasha Jonas’ trainer Joe Gallagher wasn’t pleased with the scale for the official weigh-in before tomorrow’s fight with Lauren Price. Gallagher claims that the scale wasn’t properly calibrated, making the official weights unofficial, but he admits that while he doesn’t think it’s right that no one will ultimately care enough to address the issue.
“We’re at a prestigious venue, we’ve got a prestigious event, we’re fighting for a unification, world champions,” Gallagher said. “The one thing you expect on fight night and weigh-in night, to have a set of calibrated scales to make the correct weight. They are not calibrated scales.
“The sticker’s up there on the screen, they’re calibrated on the 9th of January. We’re here in March…Them scales, boxing wise, are put there and calibrated right here, right now, today, and they don’t move. They’re not calibrated at a hotel and transported. Once them scales have moved they are not calibrated no more, and that sticker on there is the 9th of January.
“Everyone that weighed-in went ‘they’re light, they’re light, they’re light,’ and listen, I’m only protecting Natasha…The point is you’ve got this huge prestige event and we can’t get a set of proper calibrated scales. Now, yeah, they’ve made the weight, but they’re not calibrated. And yes, she’s two pounds under, but the point is you’ve got be on calibrated scales.
“I know people say it’s me kicking off again, but we’re talking about world title level. Can you imagine, hypothetically, can you imagine Pacquiao vs Mayweather — I’m not saying it’s like that — or Claressa Shields and whoever else, and they weren’t calibrated scales in America?
“And the board will turn around and go ‘they’re happy,’ of course they are, but I’ve got to be careful here because I’ll get fined, but of course they’re happy. But the point is you haven’t abided by the rules, they’re not calibrated and no one can produce a sticker that stating today’s date for them scales to weigh-in.
“Technically this isn’t a world title fight because they’ve not been done on calibrated scales. But no one’s going to push that. You will overrule me, Sky will overrule me, the board will overruled me, but at the end of the day I’m just abiding by the rules.”
