CASIMERO SENDS MESSAGE TO THE FLYWEIGHT DIVISION
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 15 Dec 2014
Johnriel Casimero was all too familiar with the scenario of fighting on the road with his career on the line. There were lingering questions going into this bout as to whether he can perform at the top level as a flyweight. But Casimero delivered in style with an emphatic second round TKO against Mexican Armando Santos and made himself a serious contender in the 112 lb division.
Casimero's left hook at the end of the opening round should have been enough to end the fight but the bell was merciful. A brutal volley in the early seconds of round two finished the job.
Casimero, who fights out of the Omega gym in Cebu, transferred his training base to Metro Manila under Jun Agrabio. He was widely reported to be working hard in the gym.
But there were still question marks about his weight days before the fight. When he lost his IBF junior flyweight title on the scales seven months ago, he didn?t just go over the 108 lb limit, he was a pound over the flyweight limit.
Casimero not only made weight, but he showed that he could carry his natural power up to 112 lbs. His performance last weekend was way better than the debacle in South Africa in 2011 when he lost by fifth round TKO to then IBF flyweight champ Moruti Mthalane.
He bounced back from that loss when he went down in weight again in 2012, with his title win against Luis Alberto Lazarte in Argentina, a fight punctuated by the infamous post-fight riot.
Casimero?s win in this IBF flyweight eliminator puts him in a collision course against the Thai world champion Amnat Ruenroeng. The flyweight division is teeming with talent like the Chinese rising star Zou Shiming, WBO/WBA champion Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico, WBC champ and the division?s top gun Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua, former champs Brian Viloria, Kazuto Ioka of Japan and Moruti Mthalane
This was a statement fight for Casimero (21W-2L, 13KO's) and he remains a force to be reckoned with.
Photo: Johnriel Casimero (R) and Armando Santos during Friday's weighin in Mexico.
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