SPORTSCLOPEDIA 29: JOHN RIEL CASIMERO IS NOW MANAGED BY MASAYUKI ITO
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 06 Feb 2023
Former world champion Masayuki Ito now manages former three-weight world champ John Riel Casimero. Ito formally presented to the media his new promotions and he announced his first boxer Casimero who has held world championships in three weight classes, the IBF junior-flyweight title, the IBF flyweight title, and the WBO bantamweight title.
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Ito's boxing promotional outfit is the Tokyo-based Treasure Boxing Promotions. He and his team went to the Villamor Boxing Gym and Omega Boxing Gym in Mandaue City to discover rising boxers for their budding promotions, as reported by Cebu Daily News Digital.
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They are targeting huge fights for Casimero for his return to world boxing championship. The grand plan is to secure a fight against Japanese boxing icon and former undisputed bantamweight champion of the world Naoya “Monster” Inoue.
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“Casimero is very well-known in Japan. If he fights, we already know that it’s going to be an exciting fight. We have something big for him,” said Ito as quoted by CDN Digital. "We want to provide Casimero relevant and big fights to fast-track him to become a world champion again."
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Ito further stated that the promotional company is planning to promote Casimero’s fight this year in May or June. They will choose first if the fight will be held in Japan or in the Philippines.
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Inoue has recently moved to the heavier super bantamweight division after unifying all the four bantamweight belts in the WBA, IBF, WBO, and WBC. Casimero also declared that he is also progressing to the super bantamweight division.
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Casimero published a fiery post for Inoue on social media which the Japanese did not care to answer to promote their planned superfight that did not push through because of the pandemic.
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Ito already has identified some possible Casimero opponents before going for the ultimate target which is a fight with Inoue. Some of the fighters they are considering are Nonito Donaire Jr., Jason Moloney, Luis Nery and Ra’eese Aleem.
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The 32-year-old Ito from Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan won the vacant WBO super-featherweight title against Puerto Rican-American Christopher Díaz by unanimous decision on July 28, 2018. He lost the title to Jamel Herring by unanimous decision on May 25, 2019.
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He retired with a professional record of 27 wins with 15 knockouts, four losses, and one draw. His last bout was a technical decision loss to Shuichiro Yoshino on April 9, 2022 before he called it a career and engaged himself into boxing promotions.
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The 33-year-old Casimero of Merida, Leyte has a record of 32 wins, 4 losses, with 22 knockouts. His last bout with Ryo Akaho in Incheon, South Korea was originally decided a no-contest after Casimero hit Akaho behind the head. But a review by the Korea Boxing Members Commission reversed the decision and ruled it as a second-round knockout in favor of Casimero.
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Casimero was stripped of his WBO world bantamweight title last year after the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) disqualified him for using the sauna to reduce weight for his title defense against Paul Butler in Liverpool, England which is a violation of British boxing rules.
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