Sweet P wrote:
May forfieted his Title on scales. Apparently he was sick the last few weeks of camp and almost pulled out of fight.
I wouldn't have allowed the fight to be changed to Lightweight. Morales made weight comfortably and shouldn't be penalised because the champion failed to make weight.
This article appears to dispel any suggestion May was sick or injured. The distinct impression coming from his camp is he lacks professionalism and in future they will have to weigh him regularly because they simply can't trust him:
Warning for boxer May over costly weight issues
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport ... es/?#page1
Nathaniel May’s boxing career is at the crossroads after the exciting WA prospect threw away a potential top 10 world ranking because of his inability to make weight.
The 21-year-old was stripped of his International Boxing Federation Australasian title on the scales and lost his high ranking after he came in a whopping 2.5kg over the 57.15kg featherweight limit for his fight with Ciso Morales.
May hit the scales at 59.7kg, which is even over the super-featherweight mark.
Promoter Ty Colman, of CDL Boxing, and May’s trainer Peter Stokes both expressed their frustration.
“I’m actually going down to Bunbury to speak to the team right now but he is on his last warning,” Colman said.
“I haven’t given May any reward for the win. It’s all his own fault.
“He is realising he has lost everything he has worked hard for over the last 12 months. He’s lost the ranking with the IBF when the fight would have cemented his spot.
“He wasn’t defeated (in the ring) but he has defeated himself. He has to look at his nutrition and how he prepares himself.”
“It’s not the first time this has happened, although it is the first time in a championship fight.
“He didn’t make weight at the World Youth Championships (as an amateur) and a couple of times (as a pro) he’s had to cut weight very late.
“But he has also shown in the past that he can make featherweight. He is not a super-featherweight, I wouldn’t put him in as one. They are too big. I just think he got a little complacent. It’s a lesson for us all.”
CDL forked out $3000 to the IBF to put on the bout but Colman said May must regain his trust before he will pay another sanctioning fee.
“His next two fights will not be for titles,” he said.
“This is why he is stagnant in Australia. Talent wise, yes he’s got it. But until we are totally confident these stupid things aren’t going to happen again (we won’t want to take him overseas to fight).
Long-time trainer Stokes said he felt “let down” by the fighter and urged him not to waste his talent.
“We monitor him as much as we can but he has got to take more responsibility,” Stokes said.
“We have one of the best nutritionists here (at the Denning Boxing Gym) and we have him (May) here three times a day (leading up to fights).
“But there is only so much we can do, we’re not there when he leaves the gym. Perhaps he will have to weigh in in front of us every day for the last four weeks before a fight.”
The fall-out will cut Stokes deeply. He has put hundreds of hours into training and talking up May and was set to take him to the US to work at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing gym in Los Angeles in December.
Without the IBF belt and ranking that has now fallen through.
“I hope Nathaniel learns from this, I really do. He’s a good kid,” Stokes said.
- While Nathaniel May’s connections are upset at his weight issues, fans who attended last week’s Western Alliance 19 card might feel a bit miffed too.
There was no announcement before the fight that May had lost the belt on the scales, or that Morales was the only fighter eligible to win the regional strap.
And after May’s quickfire win, ring MC Perry Cale twice announced that May was still the IBF Australasian champion while IBF representative Ben Keilty handed the belt to May.
Colman said there had been no intention to hoodwink fans but agreed if a similar situation arose again supporters would be informed that a boxer could not win the title.
“It was right that Ben was in the ring because it was still an IBF fight because Ciso could still have won the title,” Colman said.
“But I didn’t agree with him giving Cheeky the belt, I wouldn’t have. And with all that was happening, I wasn’t aware at the time Perry had said that. He shouldn't have."
Keilty told thewest.com.au that he was simply giving May the belt because it was his property from winning the title previously, not because he was still champion.
"It's his belt so I just presented it to him. The title is now vacant," Keilty said.
