Boxing: Wayne McCullough's highly-anticipated return to the ring has been scrapped after his Spanish opponent failed to make the weight.
The Belfast veteran was set to meet European super-bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez in Belfast's King's Hall tomorrow night in a non-title contest but the Spaniard was unable to meet the eight stone 12 pound 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 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 Dubliner Bernard Dunne in August, handing the Irishman his first professional defeat with an 86-second blitz.
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.