Liam Wilson smiled with pride as the emcee confirmed a weight far more befitting his pro career.
The former title challenger was 129 ½ pounds ahead of his scheduled ten-round, regional junior lightweight title fight versus Argentina’s Carlos Alanis, who was 129 ¾ pounds. The bout is the co-main event of a Main Event Pay-Per-View show Wednesday from Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia.
Wilson (11-2, 7KOs) fights for the first time since his valiant-in-defeat ninth-round knockout at the hands of Emanuel Navarrete in their February 3 vacant WBO junior lightweight title fight in Glendale, Arizona. Their entertaining slugfest was preceded by drama at the scales when Wilson checked in at a career-lightest 126.3 pounds.
The number was so far below his expected weight that his team suggested scale manipulation to better assist Navarrete to make weight. The fighting pride of Caboolture, Queensland’s previously lightest weight was 129 ½ pounds as a pro and hasn’t weighed near the featherweight limit since 2013 when he was a 17-year-old amateur.
Alanis (12-0, 4KOs) fights for the first time outside of his native Argentina.
Headlining the show, second-generation boxer Nikita Tyzyu was 153.3 pounds for his first scheduled eight-round affair. The Sydney-based prospect faces countryman Jack Brubaker (17-4-2, 8KOs), who was 153.9 pounds.
Brubaker was slightly heavier on Tuesday than he was in his fourth-round knockout defeat to Tim Tszyu (23-0, 17KOs), Nikita’s older brother, in their December 2019 meeting. The 31-year-old from Cronulla, New South Wales has since fought at welterweight in a loss to Steve Spark and at 156 pounds, giving away a full division’s worth of weight in a six-round victory over Troy O’Meley just five weeks ago in Moore Park.
At 25, Tszyu was the same age as was Tim in his own fight versus Brubaker. The younger Tszyu turned pro last March and has been extended beyond the fourth round just once as a pro.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox