Ray Beltran Misses Weight, IBF Title Off the Table Against Richard Commey

Former lightweight boxing champion Ray Beltran was set to challenge for a second 135-pound title tonight against the current International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Richard Commey. However, Beltran (36-8-1, 22 KO) missed weight by nearly two pounds and was deemed ineligible to challenge for the IBF strap.

"Sugar" stepped on the scale last night weighting in at 136.8 pounds. Under California State Athletic Commission rules, Beltran had two hours to lose the remaining 1.8 pounds, but the Mexican-born fighter opted against a second attempt, thus forfeiting his shot at IBF gold.

The 38-year-old fighter will also be fined 20 percent of his purse, which in this case means Beltran must shell out $40,000, with half going to Commey (28-2, 25 KO) and the other half going to the CSAC. Ghana's Commey gets to hold onto his IBF belt no matter the outcome of Friday night's fight and will now walk away with a total purse of $370,000.

Steve Feder, Beltran's manager, admitted that the drop to 135 was no longer feasible going forward. "We did everything we normally have done in the past. Up to two weeks ago he was right where we would expect, but over the past seven days we noticed that his body wasn't reacting to the weight cutting as it has in the past," said Feder to ESPN.

"For whatever reason, perhaps the age at this point, which can affect the way you metabolize, may have been a factor. No excuses from Team Beltran. After this 140 looks like the weight," declared Beltran's manager.

Commey-Beltran airs tonight on ESPN at 10 p.m. ET. The preliminary card will stream live on ESPN+ starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.