CASIMERO FINISHES MICAH IN 3, RETAINS WBO BELT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 27 Sep 2020
The highly-confident Johnriel Casimero showcased his destructive skill during his first Pay-per-View fight on Showtime by dismantling Duke Micah of Ghana in three rounds and retained his WBO bantam belt at the Mohegan Sun Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila).
Casimero came out swinging at Micah from the opening bell but Micah, who came into the fight undefeated with 24 victories and 19 stoppages, held his ground and threw his own bombs at the Ormoc slugger intent on exchanging power shot vs power shot, fire vs fire.
In the second round, as both fighters looking to connect a punch that would end the fight, Casimero landed a short left to the temple of Micah that dropped the Ghanian badly hurt early in the round. Micah beat the count but very much wobbly. Casimero threw bombs after bombs intent on finishing the fight but it was only Micah's pure heart that allowed him to finish the round.
Casimero throws a right to the falling Micah.
In the third round, Casimero resumed his onslaught and after connected with left uppercut on the still wobbly Micah, Referee Steve Willis stepped in to stop the fight at .54 seconds to save the Ghanian from further punishment.
Casimero, who promised before the fight to pour all his anger and frustration on Micah after the postponed and then cancelled fight against Naoya Inoue of Japan, did just that and now look forward to return home after staying in the US for almost a year preparing the for Inoue fight.
Casimero's statement after the fight:
“I worked hard and got the win tonight. In the first round I saw the body shot hurt him and thought I could get him out right away, but he’s a good boxer who was undefeated for a reason.
“The second round the uppercut hurt him, but Duke Micah works hard, he’s strong and has a good chin. I knew I was facing a good fighter, so I didn’t expect to knock him out so fast. He’s strong so I was prepared to go all 12 rounds.
“I’m the real monster. Naoya Inoue is scared of me. You’re next. I would have knocked out anyone today. If Inoue doesn’t fight me, then I’ll fight Guillermo Rigondeaux, Luis Nery, or any of the top fighters.”
Compubox tallied 140 thrown punches by Casimero, 59 of them hit the target, all power shots. Micah had 122 thrown punches, 26 landed, 18 power shots.
The three-division champion Casimero, 31, now improves his record to 30 wins, 4 losses with 21 stoppages while the younger Micah, 29, suffered the first loss of his career and dropped to 24 wins 1 loss with 19 knockouts.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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