By Keith Idec

Ray Beltran made weight Friday morning and will move forward with his fight against Richard Commey on Friday night.

The 38-year-old Beltran was overweight Thursday for their 12-round, 135-pound championship match, which disqualified him from fighting for Commey’s IBF lightweight title. Beltran paid a $20,000 penalty to Commey for failing to make weight, but he also wasn’t allowed to weigh more than 146½ pounds at the IBF’s second-day weigh-in Friday morning.

The IBF’s rule states that a champion and a contender cannot weigh more than 10 pounds over a division’s limit at a second-day weigh-in. Representatives for Commey and Beltran negotiated a deal Thursday that restricted Beltran from coming in 10 pounds more Friday morning than the 136½ pounds he weighed Thursday on the California State Athletic Commission’s scale.

Beltran, a former WBO lightweight champion, weighed 145.6 pounds Friday morning in Temecula, California. Commey, who weighed in at 134¼ pounds Thursday, was 142½ pounds at the IBF’s second-day weigh-in.

Had Beltran weighed more than the contracted 146½ pounds Friday morning, Commey could’ve negotiated for more money again or walked away from their fight altogether.

Now that they’ve weighed in a second time, Ghana’s Commey (28-2, 25 KOs) and Phoenix’s Beltran (36-8-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) will meet in what amounts to a non-title fight ESPN will televise from Pechanga Resort Casino. The heavily favored Commey cannot lose his title even if Beltran beats him.

If Commey wins Friday night, he is expected to fight Teofimo Lopez (13-0, 11 KOs) sometime in the fall. Lopez must first defeat Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani (18-0, 12 KOs) on July 19 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

The ESPN show headlined by Commey and Beltran will begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. In ESPN’s opener, the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Adames (17-0, 14 KOs) and Patrick Day (17-2-1, 6 KOs), of Freeport, New York, will meet in a 10-round, 154-pound bout.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.