Photos: Felix Verdejo, Christopher Diaz, Nova, Anderson - Weights

Text by Keith Idec, Photos by Mikey Williams

Eleider Alvarez had difficulty making weight for his last bout because he suffered an Achilles’ injury while training for it.

Alvarez weighed over 200 pounds a month before he was scheduled to fight Sergey Kovalev in an immediate rematch last February 2. His injury prevented Alvarez from doing real roadwork, thus getting down to the 175-pound limit for that fight was harder than ever.

The former WBO light heavyweight champion had no such difficulty making weight for his fight against Michael Seals on Saturday night. The 35-year-old Alvarez came in at 174 pounds Friday afternoon, a full pound below the maximum for their 10-round main event at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

The 37-year-old Seals (24-2, 18 KOs) officially weighed in at 173½ pounds.

Handicappers have installed Alvarez as a -1 favorite to beat Seals in Alvarez’s first fight since Kovalev out-boxed him and won a unanimous decision in their 12-round rematch nearly a year ago. Alvarez (24-1, 12 KOs), a Montreal resident raised in Colombia, knocked out Kovalev in the seventh round of their first fight to win the WBO light heavyweight title in August 2018 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Russia’s Kovalev comfortably won their second bout on all three scorecards (120-108, 116-112, 116-112) at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Seals, of Fairburn, Georgia, has won four straight fights since suffering a disqualification defeat in the second round of his May 2018 fight against Michael Gbenga. Seals was disqualified for hitting Gbenga when he was down.

ESPN will televise Alvarez-Seals as the main event of a two-bout broadcast set to begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Before Alvarez and Seals made weight, Puerto Rico’s Felix Verdejo and Dallas’ Manuel Rey Rojas met their contractual obligations for the 10-round junior welterweight fight ESPN will air before the main event.

Verdejo (25-1, 16 KOs) officially weighed in at 136¾ pounds. Rojas (18-3, 5 KOs) stepped on the scale at 135¾ pounds.

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