Boxing: McCullough must wait as Martinez fails weight

Wayne McCullough's much anticipated return to the ring was called off after his Spanish opponent failed to make the weight at the weigh-in yesterday.

The Belfast veteran was set to meet the European super-bantamweight champion, Kiko Martinez, at the King's Hall, Belfast, in a non-title contest tonight, but the Spaniard was unable to meet the 8st 12lb limit.

Martinez was one and three-quarter pounds overweight and, despite having an hour to go away and take the excess off, he did not return to the scales.

The British Boxing Board of Control Northern Ireland area council secretary, John Campbell, said: "The fight is now not on. The scales were closed at 2.30pm."

McCullough, 37, had earlier made the weight and unless a catchweight can somehow now be agreed, the fight will not take place.

The Las Vegas-based former world bantamweight champion had been set to return to the ring after an absence of two and a half years and was seen as a major outsider against Martinez, who took the European belt from the Dubliner Bernard Dunne in August, handing the Irishman his first professional defeat with a sustained 86-second assault.

The fight was scheduled for 10 rounds with Martinez's title not on the line, as McCullough's inactivity meant the European Boxing Union would not sanction it as a defence.