Casimero at SCOOP sa Kamayan
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Feb 2012
Exactly a week after his tumultuous 10th round technical knockout victory over Argentine Luis Lazarte, Filipino International Boxing Federation interim light-flyweight champion John Riel Casimero still complained of an aching body.
Not from the punishment he received from Lazarte but from the injuries inflicted by the violent pro-Argentine crowd who stormed towards the ring, throwing chairs and debris in the direction of members of Team Casimero after the bout.
Right after referee Eddie Claudio stopped the scheduled 12-round bout and even before the ring announcer proclaimed Casimero the winner, Lazarte?s fans punched and kicked the new champion, members of his team, including his manager Sammy Gello-ani and Claudio himself by those who succeeded finding their way atop the ring.
Casimero, who suffered contusion as a result of the violent attack, in fact, fell off the ring and had to crawl under it to escape further injury.
The IBF, as a results of the riotous ending of the fight, has banned the 40-year-old Lazarte in all future IBF sanction fights in the future.
?Grabe talaga ang nangyari sa amin. First time ko naranasan yun (What really happened was serious. It was my first time that I encountered such violent attack on my person),? Casimero said in Tagalog during Friday?s SCOOP Sa Kamayan weekly session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
?Hindi naman kami makaganti kasi baka mas lalong grabe ang mangyari sa amin. At saka boxer ako at lisensyado ang kamay ko .Televised yung gulo at pag nakita ako sa baka tanggalan ako ng lisensya (We couldn?t not even retaliate for fear that more serious injuries might happen to us. Besides I am a boxer and my hands are licensed. I could lose my license if I can be seen on tv)? he added.
?Pero noong nasa ilalim na na ako ng ring at makita kong tinatapakan na at niyuyurakan na ang bandila natin, gumanti na rin ako at sinipa yung mga patuloy na umaatake sa akin (But when I was already under the ring and saw the Philippine Flag being trampled upon, I couldn?t help but fight back by also kicking those who continued attacking me),? Casimero told his audience during the forum, sponsored by Coca Cola Export, FILA and UNTV.
?Hindi ko na talaga matanggap yun kasi bayan na natin ang sinasalaula nila,? he said.
Gello-ani, who accompanied Casimero to the SCOOP session, showed Daryl Peoples? letter to members of the Sports Communicators Organization of the furnished him by Casimero?s American corner man Sean Gibbons, who suffered two broken ribs as a result of the violent commotion.
Gello-ani was profusely thanked one Argentine he named Oswaldo Prado, who he said provided the shield on the 22-year-old Casmero in the one and-a-half hours that the Filipino stayed under the ring.
?We were so confused really that when John Riel fell from the ring, we didn?t know what happened to him. We didn?t know that he was being hidden by Prado there and kept watch over him for one and-a-half hours,? he recalled.
?We were worried because even when we finally made it to the dressing room, John Riel wasn?t there. Only when Prado came with John Riel in tow that I could sigh in relief,? Gello-Ani said
IBF president Daryl Peoples informed Argentina Boxing Federation president Osvaldo Bisbal of the decision to ban Lazarte in a communication dated Feb. 15.
In his letter, Peoples cited an instance in the sixth round of the said bout when the 40-year-old Lazarte threatened referee Eddie Claudio with words ?Do you want to get out of here alive?? after the fight official deducted a point from his score .
?I take this opportunity to address you in regards to the deplorable acts of violence that transpired after the Lazarte-Casimero bout,? Peoples told Bisbal in his letter. ?This type of violence has no place in a boxing match,,or any sporting event for that matter, as it completely goes against the grain of what competition is about.?
(Top Photo- Johnriel Casimero on his arrival at the Mactan International Airport in Cebu last Feb.14)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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