CASIMERO EARNS TITLE SHOT WITH SPECTACULAR 2ND ROUND KO
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 14 Dec 2014
Former IBF light flyweight champion and No. 3 ranked flyweight Johnreil Casimero has earned a title shot against champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand with a spectacular 2nd round knockout of IBF International champion Armando ?Cobra? Santos in Hidalgo, Mexico.
Casimero dominated the fight from the opening bell and exploded towards the end of round one to drop Santos who was terribly groggy even after the one minute break in between rounds.
Casimero wasted no time in going after the hapless hometown boy and ripped into him with a flurry of punches sending Santos down for the second time in the fight and out at a mere 0:25 seconds of round two.
Casimero had sparred twice over twelve rounds and went ten rounds in his final sparring session with Philippine flyweight champion Ardin Diale and WBO Oriental super flyweight champion Warlito Parrenas and according to Dr. Rajan Yraola who owns the Quezon City gym where Casimero trained ?he looked good.?
Promoter Sammy Gello-ani who was in Mexico along with veteran trainer Jun Agrabio told us before the fight that he was ?happy with the outcome? of Casimero?s preparation under veteran trainer Agrabio and were concentrating to making the weight since Casimero was six pound over the flyweight limit some six days before the mandatory title eliminator.
With the smashing victory, the colorful 24 year old Casimero who lost his light flyweight title on the scales last May 3 when he was some four pounds over the limit but even while wearing ten ounce gloves knocked out Mauricio Fuentes in the first round, improved to 21-2 with 13 knockouts.
The 26 year old Santos who was held to a draw in his last fight over ten rounds against Javier Franco on August 30 won the IBF International flyweight title with a twelve round majority decision over Romania?s Silvio Olteanu on February 1, 2014 after earlier capturing the USNBC title with a unanimous twelve round decision over Filipino Roilo Golez on August 24, 2013.
Two of the three losses of Santos were against top class opponents. He dropped a ten round unanimous decision to current WBC super flyweight champion Carlos ?Principe? Cuadras on June 17, 2011 before Cuadras became a world champion and also lost by a unanimous eight round decision to former WBC champion Toshiyuki Igarashi on November 6, 2010 before Igarashi went on to win the world title.
Casimero is best remembered for the post-fight riot in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires when he won the IBF light flyweight title with a 10th round TKO over hometown favorite Luis Lazarte whose trucker friends rioted when the decision was announced with Casimero, Sammy Gello-ani and American Sean Gibbons getting hurt in the melee.
The reigning IBF champion is Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand who won the vacant title with a unanimous decision over Filipino Rocky Fuentes in January retained his title with a solid win over Japan?s Kazuto Ioka last May and then scored a split decision over Puerto Rico?s McWilliams Arroyo on September 19, 2014.
Arroyo earned the title shot with a 2ndround TKO over previously undefeated Filipino Froilan ?The Sniper? Saludar on June 19, 2014.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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