The latest scale snafu by Luis Nery not only cost him a lucrative fight, but also a guaranteed second shot at the bantamweight title.

The undefeated former 118-pound king was removed from his mandatory ranking with the World Boxing Council (WBC), BoxingScene.com was informed on Wednesday. The ruling—which was first reported by ESPN Deportes’ Salvador ‘Chava’ Rodriguez—came shortly after the knockout artist from Tijuana, Mexico—who turns 25 in December—failed to make weight for his eventually canceled clash with fellow former titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez which was due to take place Nov. 23 on a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View undercard live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With the decision comes the freedom for reigning WBC bantamweight titlist Nordine Oubaali (17-0, 12KOs) to defend against the opponent of his choosing for his next fight. The two-time Olympian from France was due to make a mandatory defense versus Nery, as per a ruling from the WBC Annual Convention in October where the Mexican slugger was due to face the winner of a consolidation bout between Oubaali and then-interim titlist Takuma Inoue.

Oubaali emerged victorious by unanimous decision, two weeks prior to Nery’s latest losing battle at the scale.

With the ruling comes a silver lining, as Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16KOs) now has a clear path to a lineal championship showdown versus Oubaali, while also seeking to avenge younger brother Takuma’s first career loss.

Nery (30-0, 24KOs) tipped the scales at 119 pounds, marking at least the fourth time in his career he failed to make weight on the first try, though just the second time in his career where he would never officially hit the mark. The initial sequence at Friday’s weigh-in was similar to his last bout—on the same platform and from the same venue—although he would shed the additional poundage for his eventual 9th round knockout of Juan Carlos Payano this past July.

This time around, it was decided that there was no more weight to strip from his drawn-out frame. Instead, there came the effort to financially compensate Puerto Rico’s Rodriguez (19-1, 12KOs) to go through with the fight. Rodriguez—who was coming off of a title-conceding knockout loss to the elder Inoue in May—refused, having already done his job at the scale and insisting Nery do the same.

Similar circumstances saw Nery knock out Japan’s Shinsuke Yamanaka in the 2nd round their March 2018 rematch, for which he was well above the 118-pound limit. The bout came seven months after their first fight, in which Nery scored a 4th round knockout to win the title, only to have tested positive for the banned substance zilpaterol. The embarrassing incidents resulted in Nery being issued a lifetime ban by the Japanese Boxing Commission, along with a six-month worldwide “suspension” issued by the WBC, although sanctioning bodies lack legal authority to ban a boxer from the ring.

Nery played the role of good soldier, honoring the WBC ruling and waiting until last October to return to the ring. He’s since won four straight while adhering to the sanctioning body’s weight management program. However, it’s become clear that he’s outgrown the division and will now—upon strong urging of the WBC, along with his team’s own internal discussion—campaign in the junior featherweight division.

“He can no longer campaign at bantamweight,” confirmed Mauricio Sulaiman, president of WBC. “It is our recommendation that he fights at (122 pounds) or even featherweight.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox