Bobby overweight, stripped of title

LAS VEGAS — Bobby Pacquiao lost his WBC Continental Americas super-featherweight crown without taking a punch.

The 26-year-old brother of ring sensation Manny Pacquiao weighed in Wednesday afternoon three pounds over the 130-lb limit, and was automatically stripped of the title.

Bobby will still face Mexico’s Hector Velasquez Thursday night in a scheduled 12-rounder at the Hard Rock Hotel. But even if he wins, the title will be declared vacant.

If Velasquez wins, he gets the crown, and some sort of revenge following his sixth round knockout loss to Manny at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in September last year.

For the fight to push through, Bobby’s camp will have to pay a penalty. As to how much, it depends on the fight contract.

Two hours before the 5 p.m. official weigh-in, Bobby tipped the scales only to find out that he was way above the limit. It was quite unbelievable how he and his handlers didn’t know he was overweight.

Bobby then tried to lose the excess pounds. But according to an insider, he almost passed out inside the steam room, and had to be taken out.

Right there, they knew that Bobby had no time and could no longer make the weight.

"If they had known in the morning that Bobby was overweight, he could have gone out with Manny, train at the gym and easily lose two pounds," said Freddie Roach.

Roach helped train Bobby at his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

It was such a pity for Bobby to lose his crown this way, considering that he has pulled a string of victories over Carlos Navarro, Carlos Hernandez and Kevin Kelley who was knocked out last June in New York.

The other day, during the final press conference, Bobby declared his readiness to fight Velasquez, and even drew praises from legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum.