Milan Melindo explains weight problem: ‘Maybe God challenged me’

CEBU CITY, Philippines – If Milan Melindo knew he was over the weight limit on his first trip to the scale, he put up a good front.

His team must’ve known it would at least be close as Melindo, his cheeks sucked in, stripped nude and stood in front of a towel and raised his arms to his side – a habit of boxers who think it helps reduce pressure on the scale despite there being no logical reasoning to support that.

The scale read 109.25, a pound and a quarter over the 108-pound limit. His opponent Hekkie Budler, a former WBA strawweight titleholder, made the 108-pound limit on his first attempt and immediately replaced his fluids with Rehidrat, a South African electrolyte replacing drink provided by trainer Colin Nathan, and the more universally known Gatorade.

Melindo would have to wait for a sip of anything as he sat in the sauna and sweated it out before returning to the scale and hitting that elusive 108 mark to uproarious cheer. Melindo would enter the ring as champion.

Promoter Michael Aldeguer of ALA Promotions could only shrug his shoulders as he waited for his fighter to return. He says it was much harder to make the weight when Melindo won the title in July against Akira Yaegashi because of the colder climate in Japan.

This was not the first time Melindo failed to make weight on his first attempt; he was nearly 5 pounds over the catchweight weight of 110 pounds for his fight against Maximino Flores in May of 2016 and struggled to a technical decision win. 

Trainer Edito Villamor said Melindo had made the weight that morning before heading to the SM City Cebu, and suspects Melindo may have drank water after he checked his weight. Melindo denies that he did; he believes it was an act from the divine.

“Maybe God challenged me how eager I am to defend my title – how eager I am to win this fight for the Filipino people,” Melindo told Rappler after the second weigh-in.

“When I [went] down to the escalator to test my weight, I asked God that if you don’t help me to get my weight, I will not get my weight today. I will give my percentage [of his purse] to my opponent.”

How much Melindo’s struggle with the scale affects him is a matter of how much weight he had to lose in a short span of time. Budler doesn’t think it’ll be a big deal, but wouldn’t mind if it was.

“Maybe he just ate something or drank something before getting on the scale. But hopefully it does because any advantage that you can get in the ring you have to take,” said Budler (31-2, 10 knockouts) of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Melindo hopes that Budler and team try to test just how much the weight problem has deteriorated him, and that it’ll earn him chances to land his own punches.

“I think it’s my advantage that my opponent thinks I’m over,” Melindo said. “They’ll go inside. They’ll think I’m tired. You know, God is behind [it].”

Melindo and Budler will have to make weight one more time on Saturday morning as they’re not allowed to gain more than 10 pounds overnight. – Rappler.com