James Toney removed his nylon running suit, walked by the row of cameras and strode confidently to the scale.
Fight promoter Don King yelled: "234."
And that represented the first of what Toney hopes is a pair of victories this weekend.
When Toney lost a split decision to Nigeria's Samuel Peter in September, his camp said he was 4kg heavier, considerably flabbier and hardly in the shape befitting a heavyweight contender. But after enlisting the help of fitness guru Billy Blanks, Toney believes he's more than ready for tonight's rematch against Peter.
"I'm in 150 percent better shape now," said Toney, who actually was listed at 105.5kg for the first fight. "And I will show everyone that on Saturday night."
Peter (27-1, 22 knockouts) lost some weight for the rematch; he was 116.5kg when he got the controversial win over Toney (69-5, with three draws and 43 KOs) and weighed in on Thursday afternoon at 113kg.
"Doesn't matter if he's working with that trainer and his shake-booty," Peter said. "I train with a real trainer. You're going to see what's going to happen."
The winner of this elimination fight gets a mandatory shot at the WBC title against champion Oleg Maskaev, who claimed that belt with a surprising knockout of Hasim Rahman in August and defended it last month with a unanimous decision over Peter Okhello.
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