I'm actually picking Ao here. I find he was always slightly underrated and hated on too much. Likewise, I find Beltran to be limited and generally overrated by folks... Should be a close fight unless Beltran imposes himself.
Ao's quoted on one of the big Japanese sports sites as being "angry" at Beltran missing weight. They take their weight stuff seriously over their, Iwasa said that Muranaka should have been "disqualified from being a boxer" (paraphrasing) when he missed weight
You mean in terms of frequency? Not sure, but in terms of impact on the fight I think it was less back then. Less time to rehydrate so you'd have to embarrass yourself by coming in further over the limit to get the same unfair edge.
I wish that someone would do some extencive research into this. Get scientifical evidence as to which is better, same day or 24-36 hours before. Could protect thousands of fighters.
Beltran looked great. Even though he was over, he was in incredible shape. I think at 32 he's just out grown the weight. But that puts him in an awkward position, definitely no.1 lightweight, but could get beat up by most of the top 10 at light welter...