Fres Oquendo finally made his eagerly anticipated arrival to Grozny, Chechnya (Russia) today just in time for the official weigh-in. Due to health issues of his family back at home in Chicago, the Puerto Rican veteran had missed two flights to Russia over the last week causing countless rumors of possible replacements for his WBA world heavyweight championship against local fan favorite Ruslan Chagaev scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday, July 6th).
In the end Oquendo decided not to let down promoter Timur Dugazaev and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov who put a lot of personal effort in bringing this big fight to Grozny and take the last possible flight from Chicago via Warsaw to the capital of Chechnya in order to save the fight. Oquendo and his team were welcomed very warmly by many fans, journalists and political leaders who followed them to the official weigh-in ceremony shortly after their arrival.
“The Big O” brought 101.9 kg (224.5 lbs) to the scale while Chagaev weighed in a lot heavier at 111.7 kg (246 lbs). Both men were in the range of their average weight for the last couple of fights. In the co-feature Juan Carlos Gomez (89.3 kg / 197 lbs) will take on unbeaten Goran Delic (89.1 kg / 196.5 lbs) for the vacant WBA international cruiserweight championship.
