Amir Khan and Kell Brook must not have piled on more than a stone overnight as the rivals face a unique fight-day weigh-in.
The bitter adversaries both came in under the agreed 149lb catchweight limit at yesterday's official weigh-in, with Khan one pound lighter at 147lb.
But a clause in the fight contract stipulates that neither man can add more than 14lb to his frame by today.
The Daily Star reports that the result of the unofficial weigh-in will not stop the fight going ahead.
But a £100,000-per-pound fine has been agreed, should either man have bulked up too much.
Khan – who scaled 10st 7lbs 5oz at yesterday's weigh-in, with Brook (39-3, 27KOs) one pound heavier but still under the agreed contracted limit – is a slight underdog as bookmakers have favoured the ex-IBF welterweight champion.
All four of Khan’s losses inside the distance have been in the first half of a fight so the 35-year-old is prepared for an onslaught in the opening rounds, but he expects to get the upper hand the longer the fight progresses.
He said: “For the first three or four rounds he’s going to try hard and that is sometimes when I caught early. It’s happened to me before.
“When ‘BoMac’ was training me, he was saying ‘you need to be tight, you need to be smart in the early rounds because you can’t make that mistake you do sometimes’.
“If you look at those fights, (Breidis) Prescott, (Danny) Garcia, it was early in the fight when everything was going my way. I was overconfident.
“It is all about sticking to the tactics, being smart and not making any mistakes and give him a boxing lesson.”
Who wins tonight? Let us know in the comments section below
There is a suspicion this fight is happening years too late and both fighters are past their respective primes, but tickets for this event sold out in 10 minutes, with the fans’ enthusiasm underlining the magnitude of the occasion.
They were separated by security at November’s fight announcement and had several tense and inflammatory exchanges at Thursday’s final press conference, with Khan accusing Brook of a racial slur although the Yorkshireman insisted his “poppadom chin” comment was merely referencing his rival’s renowned susceptible punch-resistance.
Brook, also 35, has been courting a showdown against Khan for a long time and while the Sheffield fighter acknowledges they do not see eye to eye – the duo seemed to be verbally sparring when they went head to head on Friday before security pulled them apart – he believes he is not respected by his bitter foe.
Brook said: “Just being a fighter at our level, like Anthony Joshua, David Haye, if we all see each other, we acknowledge each other as warriors and fighters.
“We all know to get to that level what we have to sacrifice in going to bed early, training hard, the diet, we know what needs to be put in, so it’s just that acknowledgement of the respect of another fighter.
“I give anyone who fights at any level from a journeyman to the (Tyson) Furys and the AJs the utmost respect when they climb into that ring. It’s a sport you can get killed in, so respect is due."
