Boxing promoter Bob Arum asks: Who needs a weigh-in?

The delightful master of the spin was on his game again Wednesday.

Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, who could make a head-on car wreck sound like a good thing, presided at a news gathering to hype the fight Saturday night at Carson’s Stub Hub Arena between Julio Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera.

The only real issue in this fight, staged mostly because the son of Julio Chavez Sr. remains a big draw to Mexican fight fans, is the weight at which it will be contested. It has loosely been listed as a 168-pound fight, but Julio Jr., not great at training and dieting, likely won’t make that when he and Vera get on the scales Friday afternoon. Not making weight is a bad thing in boxing.

But Arum found a way, as he always does.

“We will have a first for you,” he announced, grinning widely.

Then he told the audience that, while the norm is to have a weight listed well before the fight -- actually, at contract signing -- this time they will weigh the fighters first “and then announce the fight weight.”

The translation is easy.

They signed a contract at 168. Julio Jr. most likely won’t make that. For every pound over the 168, he will have to pay Vera. Sources say that they will call the fight off if Julio goes over 173 (which actually wouldn’t matter all that much, either, because Julio Jr. could gain enough between the weigh-in and the match to fight at cruiserweight). Everything else is a negotiation, which is taking place now and will continue to take place at the weigh-in.

Why would Vera put up with this sort of nonsense?

Because he is by far the lesser-known fighter, probably knows he has a decent chance to beat an out-of-shape Julio Jr., and is looking for a large payday.

Besides, wouldn’t every fighter want to be involved in a “first,” as Arum put it?

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