Casimero snares WBO crown with late KO
CEBU, Philippines — In an explosive Easter Sunday for the boxing world that saw welterweight stars Terence Crawford dominating Amir Khan and Danny Garcia bombing out Adrian Ganados, Filipino fighter John Riel Casimero lit up his own fireworks thousands of miles away from home to the delight of his fellow countrymen.
The fighting pride of Ormoc City pulled off a resounding 12th round knockout of Mexican power-hitter Ricardo “Hindu” Espinosa to snatch the WBO interim bantamweight belt yesterday at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The 30-year-old Casimero thus joined the elite ranks of Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire and Donnie Nietes as the only Filipino boxers in history to win three world titles in different weight classes.
Casimero once held court in the IBF light flyweight and IBF flyweight divisions.
“I want to fight Tete next,” declared Casimero, who improved his record to 28-4 now spiked with 19KOs. Espinosa dropped to 23-3 with 20KOs.
That’s the exact direction Casimero will take as the victory earned him a mandatory shot at regular WBO bantamweight champion Zolane Tete of South Africa.
Casimero, however, has to wait first as Tete is scheduled to slug it out with Donaire, the reigning WBA super bantamweight champion, in a World Boxing Super Series unification bout on April 27 at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. (FREEMAN)
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