JOHNRIEL Casimero retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight strap after a split decision win over two-division world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a 12-round snoozer on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021 (PH time), at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Casimero was in a very difficult fight against Rigondeaux, who kept on running instead of fighting.
The 32-year-old Casimero was very aggressive and did his best to make it into a fight but Rigondeaux refused to engage.
“My expectation was a knockout. I wanted to knock him out and did my best to try and knock him out. But he was always running and not fighting,” Casimero said after the fight.
Judges Robert Hoyle and Daniel Sandoval scored it 117-111 and 116-112 in favor of the aggressive Casimero, while judge Tim Cheatum had it 115-113 for the cautious Rigondeaux.
The 40-year-old Rigondeaux, however, felt that he did enough to win the fight despite getting huge boos from the crowd.
“Nobody wants to fight me. That’s my game plan. I frustrate fighters,” said Rigondeaux. “That’s why I win because God gave me those skills and I use them.”
Casimero improved to 31-4 with 21 knockouts, while Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, suffered only his second career defeat and dropped to 20-2 with 13 knockouts.
Casimero made it known after the fight the two fighters that he wanted to fight next -– Filipino superstar Nonito Donaire Jr. and Japanese ring icon Naoya Inoue.
“Rigondeaux is already finished. Next is Donaire and then Inoue,” said the brash Casimero, while flipping his middle finger.
Fight fans took to social media to express that the post-fight interview of Casimero was more entertaining than the real fight itself, where Rigondeaux kept on running instead of trading leathers.
Donaire Jr. is currently the World Boxing Council bantamweight champion, while Inoue holds the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and The Ring lineal bantamweight belts.
Meanwhile, one-time world title challenger Jonas Sultan (17-5, 11 KOs) had an impressive return to the US with a seventh round knockout of last minute replacement Sharone Carter (12-5, 3 KOs).
The 29-year-old Sultan, a former ALA Gym fighter, overwhelmed Carter with a series of punches that knocked him out in the seventh round.
Veteran Raymond Tabugon (22-13-1, 11 KOs), in the meantime, suffered a fifth round knockout in the hands of former world champion Juan Carlos Payano (23-5, 11 KOs).
Tabugon was immediately dropped in the opening round. He survived the knockdown but was battered by Payano in the next four rounds before quitting at the end of the fifth.