By Keith Idec

Scott Quigg wants the public to know that it wasn’t utter unprofessionalism that kept him from making weight for his WBO featherweight title fight against Oscar Valdez.

England’s Quigg told Sky Sports on Sunday that he couldn’t get down to the featherweight limit of 126 pounds for Friday’s weigh-in due to the stress fracture he suffered in his foot about a month before losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Mexico’s Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs) on Saturday night in Carson, California.

Quigg doesn’t think his foot injury hurt his performance, but contends that it prevented him from doing the required roadwork during training camp to make weight.

The 29-year-old Quigg (34-2-2, 25 KOs), who’s trained by Freddie Roach, drew a lot of criticism from fans and media after weighing in at 128½ pounds Friday afternoon, 2½ pounds overweight.

“It wasn’t a tactic,” Quigg told Sky Sports about being overweight. “Four weeks ago, I fractured my foot. It meant I couldn’t do the roadwork and certain stuff, and I knew the way I was going to be fighting [Saturday night], we wouldn’t change my tactics and I wasn’t going to change my fighting style.”

The injury aside, Quigg still thought he would be able to get down to 126 pounds by Friday.

“I was well on track to making the weight,” Quigg said, “but I started cutting my weight earlier because I knew I had to be on it. And because I started to cut it earlier, my body just started to shut down. On Thursday, I was only three pounds over and I did four sessions that day, and [my weight] just didn’t budge. But I take full responsibility and I didn’t want to let my fans down, who had already paid for their travel.

“I got a bit of stick at home, people saying I was unprofessional [because] I’ve not made the weight. But I am not unprofessional at all. I still apologize for doing that, but I am not unprofessional. I don’t cut corners.”

After failing to make weight, Quigg also refused to take part in the second-day weigh-in Valdez’s team requested. Quigg reportedly weighed 142 pounds on ESPN’s unofficial scale Saturday night, six pounds more than Valdez.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.