Canelo vs Kovalev weigh-in results: Canelo makes weight, Kovalev slightly over at first but drops quarter-pound

UPDATE (6:38 pm ET): And basically as soon as I hit “publish,” Kovalev came back out and made weight at 175 pounds. We’re set for Saturday!

Canelo Alvarez is set for tomorrow night, but Sergey Kovalev has a bit more work to do.

Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KO) weighed in at 174½ for tomorrow night’s light heavyweight title fight against Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KO), who is defending the WBO title in the bout, or at least should be. Kovalev came in at 176 initially, a pound over the limit. After taking off a necklace, he came in at 175½, and after going fully nude, he came in at 175¼.

Kovalev, 36, now has one hour to get down to 175. It shouldn’t be a problem, but we’ll know when we know.

Canelo, 29, confirmed the fight will go on either way.

“Yes, of course. I can’t just leave my people just like that,” Alvarez said through a translator. Asked how he felt physically, he said, “I feel very strong. We’ll see how my body reacts in the fight, but I believe in my physical strength and physical capacity.”

Kovalev, understandably, skipped the interview session to go work on dropping that quarter pound.

In the co-feature, lightweight prospect Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KO) and Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KO) both weighed in at the limit of 135 pounds and are set for Saturday.

“I feel good. I told Golden Boy when I re-signed with them, the first opponent I wanted was that man right there. I wanted to make a statement, that’s who I’m fighting next,” Garcia said.

The women’s flyweight grudge match between Seniesa Estrada (17-0, 7 KO) and Marlen Esparza (7-0, 1 KO) saw the fighters weigh in at 110½ and 111, respectively, both under the 112-pound limit.

There was some shoving at their press conference earlier this week, and the two rivals got in one another’s faces again after weighing in, which was quickly broken up by their teams.

“The talk is ending Saturday night. She’s dressed in her high heels and her makeup like she’s going to the prom. I’m ready to fight,” Estrada said. “She’s a person who has a bad ego and a nasty attitude. I’m going to put it to an end, finally. Marlen Esparza is just another person that I have to get rid of so I can get to the real world champions and better fighters.”

“She tried to lie to promoters to get signed. I don’t respect it,” Esparza said. “She tried to use my name to get signed. It’s a sad thing to do and I have no respect for her.”

In the main card opener, Blair Cobbs (12-0-1, 8 KO) and Carlos Ortiz (11-4, 11 KO) made weight, with Cobbs at the welterweight limit of 147 and Ortiz at 146.

Ortiz looked really dried out on the scales, while Cobbs did his usual pro wrestling-style shtick. He received a few “WOOOs” while on the scale at first, which were quickly overwhelmed by “boos,” and the boos continued during his interview. He bounced between saying that doesn’t bother him, and trying (and failing) to get the pro-Mexican audience on his side.