Inoue Fight Remains Pipe Dream as Casimero Held to Draw in Japan Debut
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 13 Oct 2023
His much cherished dream of a clash with Naoya Inoue may now remain as a pipe dream for former WBO bantamweight champion Johnriel "Quadro Alas" Casimero as he was held to a technical draw by a semi retired Japanese ex world titlist Yukinori Oguni in his much ballyhooed debut in the Japanese ring last night.
The main event fight held at the famed Ariake Arena was stopped less than a minute through the fourth round after a clash of heads rendered Oguni unfit to continue with a severely bleeding cut above his forehead. The bout was ruled a technical draw as it ended before the end of the fourth round Two judges had Casimero leading by a point after two rounds while the third had Oguni by one up to that point.
The result was a disappointment not only to the Casimero camp but to his Japanese promoters who had been expecting a rousing debut in the Japanese ring for Quadro Alas which they had hoped would lead him to more marquee fights in the country eventually creating demand for a fight with the Japanese idol Naoya Inoue down the road.
It was also a big letdown for Casimero's hordes of Filipino fans, many of whom had expected an impressive brutal victory for Jonnriel. Some had even came out with blogs not just predicting but proclaiming his win over the formerly inactive ex-IBF titlist from Japan.
Oguni who briefly held a world title at super bantamweight was not expected to give Casimero much trouble as his two previous loses had been by knockout to fellow Japanese Shingo Wake and Ryusoke Iwasa, the man who wrested his title and the last fighter to beat reigning unified 122 lbs world champion Marlon Tapales
That could be the reason Casimero's Japanese handlers had chosen Oguni and neither of Wake or Iwasa as opponent for his Japanese ring debut. But they were nearly proven wrong in their selection as Oguni gave a good account of himself for the duration of the fight.
Casimero (R) and Oguni (L) failed to finish their 10-round scheduled fight in Japan last night after an accidental clash of heads injured Oguni in the 4th round that forced the referee to stop the fight for a technical draw outcome.
Casimero appearing physically stronger started the fight like a house on fire ripping combinations to the head and body to the roar of his corner. But the taller Oguni still shaking off rust from fewer recent fights while showing qualities that had made him world champion in the past, remained unfazed and willingly traded with him.
The second round followed the same pattern with Casimero on the offensive and Oguni counter punching. But by mid point of the round, Oguni had seemingly taken the initiative as he took the offensive and found Casimero with his straight and overhand rights and 1-2 combinations. Casimero fought back fiercely but it had became a closely fought contest.
After a rather tame third round, Casimero and Oguni came charging at each other at the start of the fourth. Then from out of the corner their heads accidentally clashed and Oguni was left profusely bleeding from a deep cut over the eye near the forehead The referee halted fight and called it a draw as Oguni was unable to continue.
In other action, former Tim Tszyu opponent Takeshi Inoue (20-2-2, 12 KOs), no relation to Naoya, stopped Thiranan Matsali (27-3, 7 KOs) in round six of a junior middleweight fight. Bantamweight Froilan Saludar (34-7-1, 24 KOs) needed just sixty seconds to demolish Keita Kurihara (17-8-1, 15 KOs) in the first round to claim the OPBF belt… Flyweight Vince Paras (20-2-1, 15 KOs) took an eight round split decision against Kai Ishizawa (11-3, 10 KOs) in a clash of former minimumweight world title challengers, SoCal bantamweight Saul “The Beast” Sanchez (20-2, 12 KOs) outpointed previously unbeaten RV Deniega. (9-1, 6 KOs) over eight rounds.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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