WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero announced yesterday on YouTube that he’ll return to action December 11th in a long-delayed unification match with IBF/WBA champion Naoya Inoue, who’s had his fair share of harsh words for the brash Filipino. Casimero manager Sean Gibbons, however, tells Rappler that “Quadro Alas” is actually in rebooted talks to fight WBC champ Nonito Donaire, who in turn claims “there are no ongoing talks between his handlers and Team Casimero and that a rematch with Inoue is his priority.”
Donaire might not be particularly amenable to negotiations after what happened last time, so I’d take Gibbons’ comments with a grain of salt. Basically all we know is that Casimero (31-4, 21 KO) will fight somebody on December 11th in the States.
Casimero went from interim champion to full champion when he knocked out Zolani Tete in 2019, setting up a clash with Inoue that ended up being one of boxing’s first major COVID casualties. With the fight shelved until a live audience became feasible again, Casimero stayed busy by annihilating unbeaten Duke Micah.
Then came Guillermo Rigondeaux, with whom Casimero put on one of the year’s worst fights before emerging with an ugly split decision.
Anyone got a preference for how this whole hate triangle plays out?