Lara vs Castano: Main eventers make weight for Showtime card

Saturday night’s Showtime tripleheader is set — well, almost.

The main event and co-feature weigh-ins went fine today in Brooklyn, but there is at least a temporary question about the opening fight of the broadcast.

Erislandy Lara (25-3-2, 14 KO) weighed in at 153½ pounds for his challenge against WBA “world” junior middleweight titleholder Brian Castano (15-0, 11 KO), who weighed in at the limit of 154 pounds.

The 35-year-old Lara is the favorite in the bout, but that may simply be that he’s more established and well-known to most of us. Castano, 29, has an amateur pedigree and is unbeaten. Lara is a step up for him, no question, but we’ll just have to see how he handles it tomorrow night.

Heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz (30-1, 26 KO) weighed in at 238¾ pounds for his fight with Christian Hammer (24-5, 14 KO), who was almost 20 pounds heavier at 257½. For Ortiz, that’s his lowest weight since his 2015 win over Matias Ariel Vidondo — not dramatically lower than his weights since then, but worth noting.

The featherweight opener is still not quite settled. Bryan De Gracia (24-1-1, 20 KO) weighed in comfortably below the 126-pound limit at 124¾ pounds, but opponent Eduardo Ramirez (21-1-3, 8 KO) weighed in a pound heavy, at 127, and was clearly ready for an issue, as he hit the scales fully nude on his first and only attempt. Ramirez has two hours to lose the extra pound.

Update: Ramirez came back within the two hour window and made weight, checking in at 125¾, so that fight is set and there are no penalties or anything.