FILIPINO Jhack Tepora suffered a double whammy even without climbing the ring.
Not only was the 25-year-old Cebuano stripped of his interim World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title belt, he also lost an opportunity to earn a cold $50,000 in prize purse.
Tepora came in overweight for what should have been the biggest fight of his career after tipping the scale 5.5 pounds over the 126-lb featherweight limit for his title bout against Mexican Hugo Ruiz in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Adrian Broner welterweight championship match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The infraction led to the disqualification of Tepora, who was replaced by compatriot Alberto Guevarra.
The sudden turn of events obviously was a big letdown for Tepora, who showed a lot of promise when he scored a technical knockout win over Edivaldo Ortega of Mexico in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse title showdown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to capture the interim WBA featherweight crown.
The bout between Ruiz and Guevarra had been to a 10-round non-title fight and also served as the pay-per-view opener of the Pacquiao-Broner encounter.
As expected, the 30-year-old Ruiz cruised past his replacement opponent and won via unanimous decision on scores of 100-89, 99-90, 99-90.
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