Filipino champ Casimero still after Japanese Inoue
MAKE no mistake. World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion John Riel “Quadro Alas” Casimero still wants undefeated Japanese Naoya “Monster” Inoue as an opponent.
The Filipino made this reiteration on Tuesday at the online Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum, saying he is looking forward to battling Mr. Inoue, the reigning World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation champion at 118 pounds, next.
Mr. Casimero said it was with the end view of unifying the titles in the division, a long-time dream of his, while at the same time having the opportunity to silence his critics who believe he does not have what it takes to beat the Japanese.
“My dream is for a unification of the titles at 118; to have all the belts around my waist. I also want to take on Inoue to show my bashers, some of which are Filipinos at that, that I can beat a fighter like him,” said Mr. Casimero in a mix of English and Tagalog.
Mr. Casimero (30-4) was scheduled to fight Mr. Inoue (19-0) in April in Las Vegas in a unification bout until it was scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.
It was hoped that it would be rescheduled to a later date, but organizers moved altogether to cancel the fight for the time being.
In place of Mr. Inoue, the Filipino champion instead took erstwhile undefeated Ghanaian fighter Duke Micah, who Mr. Casimero dominated and defeated by way of a thirdround technical knockout victory at the weekend in Connecticut.
Mr. Casimero was on top of his game in his first title defense on Sunday (Manila time).
Thirty-year-old Casimero set the pace with some solid body shots that rocked his opponent.
In the second round, the Filipino champion picked up the pace further, sending Mr. Micah to the canvas with a left hook. The Ghanaian, however, would survive the round.
Sensing that his opponent was in trouble, Mr. Casimero moved to pressure Mr. Micah some more to start round three.
He unleashed solid hits to the body and head, then connected with a combination of left and right upper cuts to the chin that had Mr. Micah reeling and something he could not recover from, forcing the referee to stop the fight just 54 seconds into the round.
Mr. Casimero attributed his victory to his steady training since March in the United States that was extended because of the cancellation of the Inoue fight.
“My training in Las Vegas really helped me a lot. There was not much distraction and I was able to focus on what I had to do,” he said.
But while Mr. Casimero is raring to fight Mr. Inoue, the former said he would not wait for the Japanese if the latter’s camp continues to “avoid” them.
“We will give him (Inoue) one year, but if they continue to avoid us we will not wait for them. There are other fighters that I could take on,” Mr. Casimero said.
Among those Mr. Casimero’s camp are looking at are showdowns with Mexican Luis Nery and Cuban Guillermo Rigondeux.
Mr. Casimero also shared that he is open to going up in weight class to 122 “to be a four-division champion,” after light-flyweight, flyweight and bantamweight.
With Mr. Casimero at Tuesday’s PSA Forum was MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons.