Casimero, Llover meet contrasting fates in Japan

CEBU, Philippines — Filipino boxers John Riel “Quadro Alas” Casimero and Kenneth “The Lover Boy” Llover meet contrasting fates in Japan last Saturday, June 6.

Casimero, a three-division world champion known for his power-punching skills, scored five knockdowns before finishing off an overweight Mexican Luis “Pantera” Nery in the fourth round.

The 37-year-old Casimero downed Nery three times in the opening session and once each in the second and third before stopping the hapless Mexican for good in round four with a solid right straight-left cross combination.

Casimero improved to a 36-5-1 now spiked with 25KOs. Nery fell to 37-3 with 28KOs.

Meanwhile, Llover lost by split decision to American Michael Angeletti in a battle of undefeated fighters that was also an International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight title eliminator.

Llover, 23, made an impression in the first three rounds only to lose steam thereafter.

At the end of the 12-round clash, Thai judge Cherdchai Srirat scored 115-112 for Llover but Saemi Okaniwa of Japan and Carl Zappia of Australia tallied 115-112 and 116-111, respectively, for Angeletti, hence, the split verdict.

Llover tasted his first career defeat after going 17-0 with 12KOs while Michael Angeletti raised his clean slate to 15-0 with 8KOs.

In the same card, another Pinoy fighter in Vince “Kamikazee” Paras (25-5-1, 19KOs) bowed to Aoi Yokoyama (5-0, 1KO) by unanimous decision in their eight-round bout.