CASIMERO STOPS FRANCO IN 12, CAPTURES WBO INTERIM BANTAM TITLE
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 21 Apr 2019
Former two-division world champion John Riel Casimero of the Philippines won a hard-fought 12th round stoppage over Mexican slugger Ricardo Espinoza Franco to capture the WBO Interim world batamweight title at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA on the undercard of Danny Garcia-Andrian Granados main-header Saturday night (Sunday in Manila).
Casimero (27-4-0, 17KOs) dropped Franco (23-3-0, 20KOs) in the 6th round but the Mexican knockout artist recovered and continued to press action as Casimero was catching for breath. Casimero caught Franco again in the 12th round for a second knockdown but after the Mexican beat the count, Casimero threw a barrage of unanswered punches before Referee Rudy Barragan stepped in to stop the carnage. Time: 44 seconds of the 12th round.
Casimero, who got derailed by a loss against compatriot Jonas Sultan on Sep. 16, 2017, is now back in harness by capturing a world title in a third division. The regular WBO world bantamweight champion is Zolani Tete of South Africa who will defend his WBO/WBA titles against Nonito Donaire Jr next week, April 27, in Lafayette, Louisiana for the WBSS tournament. The WBO earlier ruled that since the WBSS tournament will take time to finish, making the champion unavailable to defend his title against the WBO contenders, it sanctioned the Casimero-Franco fight for the Interim title.
Casimero earlier captured the IBF light flyweight and flyweight world titles.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles:
World Ranked Heavyweight Dainier Pero Headlines on Saturday, January 17th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia
Wed, 07 Jan 2026Jahyae Brown to Battle Arnold Gonzalez in Exciting Co-Feature on Thursday, January 15th at The War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey
Wed, 07 Jan 2026Hendri Cedeno Seeks Monumental Victory Against Alfredo Santiago for NABO Title January 10 at Barclays Center
Tue, 06 Jan 2026Kingsley Ibeh learned from his Loss 5 years ago to Jared Anderson
Tue, 06 Jan 2026Unified World Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez returning to Corpus Christi…as a promoter!
Tue, 06 Jan 2026Ocum to fight Ballesteros on January 26
By Lito delos Reyes, Mon, 05 Jan 2026SEA Plus Youth Games - Tolentino
By Lito delos Reyes, Mon, 05 Jan 202687th Kalilangan Chess Festival Featuring Manny Pacquiao International Open to Push Through
By Marlon Bernardino, Mon, 05 Jan 2026Deniega to fight Oka in Japan
By Lito delos Reyes, Fri, 02 Jan 2026Illness forces Paddy Donovan to withdraw from IBF Welterweight World Eliminator January 16 versus Liam Paro in Australia
Fri, 02 Jan 2026Canadian World Cruiserweight Contender Ryan Rozicki returning to ring March 7th
Thu, 01 Jan 2026Lover Boy on hot streak
By Joaquin Henson, Wed, 31 Dec 2025Silvano fights Gurung on January 13 in Hong Kong
By Lito delos Reyes, Wed, 31 Dec 2025GM Laylo faces tough competition in Caloocan rapid chess
By Marlon Bernardino, Wed, 31 Dec 2025GOLDEN BOY DELIVERS A LOADED UNDERCARD OF STAR PROSPECTS FOR ROCHA VS. CURIEL II
Wed, 31 Dec 2025