THE trio of Johnriel Casimero, Jayson Mama and Donnie Nietes will headline Probellum’s blockbuster boxing show on Dec. 11, 2021, at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, UAE.
“The two world title fights see John Riel Casimero face Paul Butler, while Sunny Edwards takes on Jayson Mama, and both of those bouts are set to be guaranteed excitement. With the likes of Donnie Nietes, Archie Sharp and Jono Carroll all competing too, fans will be treated to a night of non-stop action. We cannot wait for fight night and are proud to bring this historic event to the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai,” said Probellum president Richard Schaefer.
Casimero is set to defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight belt against mandatory challenger Paul Butler.
The 32-year-old Casimero is coming off a split decision win over former Olympian Guillermo Rigondeaux in August. He’s looking at unifying all the bantamweight belts by fighting International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight king Naoya Inoue and World Boxing Council bantamweight title holder Nonito Donaire Jr.
Butler is a former IBF bantamweight champion. He won the belt in 2014 with a split decision win over Stuart Hall. After losing the belt to Zolani Tete in 2015, Butler fought for the vacant IBF bantamweight belt, but lost to Emmanuel Rodriguez by unanimous decision in 2018. Since then, Butler has been riding on a seven-fight winning streak.
Casimero is 31-4 with 21 knockouts, while Butler is 33-2 with 15 knockouts.
In the meantime, Mama challenges IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards in the co-main event.
This world title fight is a long time coming for Mama. He was supposed to challenge then IBF title holder Noruti Mthalane on Dec. 20, 2021, but the fight was cancelled after the South African promoter failed to comply with Boxing South Africa’s requirements to stage the fight. He then had to give way to Edwards as Mthalane’s challenger in April, with the assurance that he would be fighting the winner. He finally had a scheduled world title fight on Sept 11, 2021, but just a few days before the fight, Edwards suffered an ankle injury and had to pull out.
The 24-year-old Mama is 16-0 with nine knockouts, while Edwards is 16-0 with four knockouts.
Nietes, on the other hand, is fighting in a world super flyweight title eliminator against a yet-to-determined opponent.
The 39-year-old Nietes is currently ranked No. 3 by the WBO, No. 4 by the WBA and No. 6 by the WBC.
Nietes, a four-division world champion, is 43-1-5 with 23 knockouts.