Willibaldo Garcia and Rene Calixto made weight for the first of two check-ins on Friday.

The pair of IBF-rated junior bantamweights from Mexico were both well inside the 115-pound limit for the vacant title fight. Garcia was 113 ¾ pounds, while Calixto checked in at 114.3 pounds.

Their scheduled 12-round bout will be for the IBF junior bantamweight title previously vacated by The Ring No. 1-rated Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs). ABEMA-TV will air the card live on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. local time (Friday, 11:00 p.m. ET) from Twin Messe in Shizuoka, Japan.

All IBF-sanctioned fights (excluding unified title affairs) require a second-day weight-check, where participants cannot hydrate more than ten pounds. This process normally takes place on the morning of the fight.

Because of the show's early start time, the ceremony will instead take place later Friday evening before both boxers go to bed.

Garcia (22-5-1, 13 KOs) and Calixto (23-5, 9 KOs) each enter their first title fight. Neither boxer is in The Ring top ten at junior bantamweight.

The all-Mexican clash in Japan is due to Calixto's promoter, current featherweight contender Tomoki Kameda's TMK International Promotions.

Garcia is promoted by BXSTRS. He will fight outside of Mexico for just the second time in his seven-year career. That came in a June 2021 defeat to two-division titlist Paul Butler in Bolton, England.

It was Garcia's last loss, as he has won ten in a row heading into this weekend's title affair.

Calixto's lone appearance abroad also took place in Japan.

He fought on the undercard of Kameda's points loss to Lerato Dlamini last Oct. 7 at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. Calixto's night went much better than his promoter, as he earned an eighth-round stoppage win.