WE have covered the fights of reigning two-division world champion Johnreil Casimero for the past decade and from his initial victory over Thai slugger Liempetch Sor Veerapol in a clash for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific light flyweight title, which he won by a TKO at 1:02 of the fifth round at the Talisay City Sports Complex in Cebu on Oct. 3, 2008, we saw the potential in the young fighter, unbeaten in 10 fights against a foe, who had 8 knockouts in 11 wins with 4 losses and a draw.
In the Liempetch fight, Casimero impressed us with his aggressive tactics and the big right hand, which would prove to be a factor in later years.
When he suffered back-to-back setbacks against Ramon Garcia Hirales of Mexico in a face-off for the WBO light flyweight interim title on July 24, 2010 in Sinaloa and to South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane on March 26, 2011 via a fifth-round TKO, we didn’t lose hope.
Casimero clearly learned from his mistakes. And with veteran trainer Jhun Agrabio pushing him hard, Casimero turned his career around, winning nine of his next 10 fights with the only loss, a hugely controversial decision to Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng in a foul-infested battle for the vacant IBF flyweight crown in Bangkok.
Casimero soon began to pick up the moniker “The Road Warrior,” as he traveled from one country to another to ply his trade beginning with the riot-marred 10th-round TKO victory over Argentina’s Luis Alberto Lazarte at Mar del Plaza in Buenos Aires on Feb. 10, 2012.
As a result of the riot, the IBF issued a lifetime ban on Lazarte, where, following referee Eddie Claudio’s stoppage of the fight after Casimero dropped him twice in the ninth round and once in the 10th, drunken fans from the truckers’ group that supported the local boy, started throwing chairs and bottles at Casimero and members of his team, while fans also rushed to the ring and started attacking the Filipino fighter, promoter Sammy Gello-ani, Agrabio and Sean Gibbons. Casimero was bundled under the ring to save him from further attacks, while police escorted him to his dressing room.
Boxing Scene reported that during the fight, Lazarte was “using his usual dirty tactics. He bit Casimero several times and even threatened to take the life of referee Claudio.”
IBF president Darryl Peoples acted promptly and decisively and sent a formal letter to the president of the Argentine Boxing Federation in Osvaldo Bisbal, asking him “what steps were taken with the local police department to bring those individuals who entered the ring and assaulted Mr. Casimero and his camp, to justice. ”
Peoples stated: “There is one measure we are taking into our own hands and that we will enforce. As a result of Luis Lazarte threatening the life of referee Eddie Claudio, while receiving a point deduction in the 6th round, Lazarte is banned from being involved in any capacity in any IBF-related fight that takes place in Argentina or around the world.”
As a result of the riot, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest with the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the incident.
Casimero was later declared the regular IBF junior flyweight champion when Ulises Solis was unable to defend his title before the Oct. 30 deadline set by the IBF.
In his first title defense against Mexico’s Pedro Guevara, Casimero had a tough time, ultimately winning a split decision largely due to the fact that Dr. Ruben Garcia, whose penchant to score fights against Filipinos, once again reared its ugly head as he scored the fight for Guevara, 114-113, which was overturned by the scorecards of Matthew Podgorski, 116-111, and Levi Martinez, 114-113, for Casimero.
The late Dr. Garcia was previously admonished by the IBF, when he scored the super bantamweight title fight of Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, in favor of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. despite Donaire dropping him and controlling the fight.
Casimero then proceeded to Panama to defend his title against Luis Alberto Rios on March 16, 2013 and scored a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision with judges Levi Martinez and Nelson Vazquez turning in scorecards of 119-109 and Joe Garcia, 118-108.
Casimero returned home and stopped Felipe Salguero in the 11th- round to retain his IBF junior flyweight title at the Makati Coliseum.
He showed no ill-effects of having to shed off 1 ½ pounds within an hour to make the weight.
He remained the aggressor against the Mexican challenger before he exploded with a flurry of punches to send the challenger down on both knees, capped by his patented left hook followed by a right straight, prompting referee Wayne Hedegepeth to cut short the 12-round bout at the 1:34 mark of the eleventh.
Salguero, who lost the WBO light flyweight title to Donnie “Ahas” Nietes, dropped to 18-5 with three KOs.
It was Casimero’s third title defense, but his first at home. He kept his win streak going with a spectacular first-round annihilation of Mauricio Fuentes of Colombia, when referee Gerard White stopped the bout with one second to go in the opening round.
The aggressive champion, who had lost the title on the scales when he came in five pounds over the limit, blasted Fuentes with a ripping right hand before dropping the Colombian two more times in the same round.
Referee White had no choice but to end the massacre.
Casimero, the former IBF light flyweight champion and No. 3-ranked flyweight, scored a spectacular second-round knockout of IBF International champion Armando “Cobra” Santos in Hidalgo, Mexico on Dec. 13, 2014 to earn a crack at IBF champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand.
Casimero, who then lost in his bid to win the IBF flyweight title against Thai champion Amnat Ruenroeng in an ugly, foul-infested fight at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok on June 27, 2015 returned home, dejected by what happened with bruised and painful legs caused by the numerous Muay Thai style take-downs and an aching neck due to the numerous headlocks resorted to by the Thai.
Well-known promoter Sammy Gello-ani, who handles Casimero in partnership with international matchmaker, promoter and manager Sampson Lewkowicz, formally protested in a letter to Peoples and Championship Committee chairman Lindsey Tucker, claiming the failure of referee Larry Doggett to stop the persistent foul tactics of the Thai champion emboldened him to continue.
Gello-ani asked the IBF to “preserve Casimero’s No. 1 ranking so he could use the nearest opportunity to fight again.”
Casimero trained harder than ever for the rematch with the Thai, determined to avenge his controversial loss to the previously unbeaten world flyweight champion, who was assisted in his training by former boxer/manager and trainer Aljoe Jaro and his brother.
Agrabio had no problem with the Jaro brothers helping the Thai, saying it was only a job.
Despite the assistance of the Jaro brothers on the Thai, Casimero scored a dramatic fourth-round knockout at the Diamond Stadium in Beijing, China in an event that was a highlight of the IBF Annual Convention.
It was a sudden and shocking turnaround by Casimero, whose veteran trainer predicted that his ward would “win by a landslide, just like president-elect Rody Duterte,” whom the Casimero camp had openly supported.
Referee Tony Weeks, whose appointment was welcomed by the Casimero camp, confident he wouldn’t allow the champion to resort to dirty tactics as in their first fight, counted out Ruenroeng at 2:10 of the fourth round.
The Filipino rejoiced over his vengeful victory in a rematch, where he was behind by a shutout on the scorecards of two of the three judges, 30-27, while the third judge had Amnat ahead, 29-28.
With the win, Casimero became a two-division world champion.
Lewkowicz immediately called out pound-for-pound No. 1 and unbeaten Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez for a unification bout, saying “tell him we are ready any time.”
Casimero told the Manila Standard that he watched the telecast of the Gonzales-Carlos Cuadras title fight (which Chocolatito won) and said: “It looks like Gonzalez has weakened. It will be nice to fight him (Gonzalez) now. I can beat him easily.”
But by all accounts, that will have to wait as Casimero’s promoters wanted him to defend his flyweight title a couple of times more and make some money before a mandatory title defense early next year, when he is expected to move up in weight to super fly in going after Gonzalez.
Boxing man Gibbons, who worked closely with Lewkowicz to bring the Jerwin Ancajas title challenge against champions McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico, which Ancajas dominated to win the IBF super flyweight title, told Manila Standard on the sidelines of the fight, that he was “so happy that the people are going to see the real Casimero” when he defends his title at the O2 Arena in London against unbeaten 23-year-old British champion and former amateur star.
”Casimero is one of the best-kept secrets in Philippine boxing. He’s got a punch, he’s got charisma and he’ll be on the big stage in London. I think he’s going to really show what he’s made of. He is one of the only people I know who loves to travel and when the crowd boos, that fires him up,” said Gibbons. “Edwards is fundamentally solid but is not in Casimero’s level. “
He predicted that the Filipino champ will “break him down in 5 or 6 rounds and stop him. While Edwards has a deep amateur background, after Casimero figures him out, it’s over.”
It took a little longer than most of us expected, as Casimero took it easy in the early rounds, even allowing Edwards to take the fifth round and possibly the sixth.
But the Filipino decided it was time to get to work as he had answered promoter Eddie Hearns’ request to allow the fans to enjoy the fight before finishing it too early.
Casimero paced himself in the early rounds and piled up the points with solid body shots and a repertoire of overhand rights, uppercuts and combinations, and although Edwards battled gamely, he was clearly out of his depth.
Casimero was adept at slipping Edwards jabs and showed the kind of footwork that negated the British fighter’s claim that the champ was too slow and he would use his speed to outbox him.
Casimero connected with an overhand right in Round 4, followed by a ripping uppercut that buckled the knees of a shaky Edwards, who however, came back and had his best showing in Round 5, when a cut above Casimero’s eyebrow seemed to bother him.
Dietician and substitute cutman Aldrin Sta.Maria did a commendable job to stop the bleeding. Casimero later had three stitches to close the wound.
But the Filipino, who was in control of the fight, connected with two right hands and then cracked Edwards with two body shots as the Briton held on in Rounds 8 and 9.
Sensing that the end was near as Edwards seemed hurt and befuddled, Casimero pushed the pace and went for a knockout, dropping Edwards with a perfectly timed left hook in Round 10, but although the game challenger beat the count, Casimero waded into the hapless Briton. And with the challenger obviously in no position to continue, referee Steve Gray of Lancashire, England, checked out the badly battered Edwards and stopped the fight at 1:57 of the 10th round.
While Edwards suffered his first defeat after 8 wins including 3 knockouts, Casimero improved to 23-3 with 15 knockouts.
While having a snack at the “Throwback” restaurant at the Victory Mall in Caloocan City, where Casimero trained, we recalled what renowned billiards patron Aristeo “Putch” Puyat said after he watched the telecast of the fight on Sky Cable pay-per-view of ABS-CBN.
“This boy is good, he can punch and he is aggressive. Reminds me so much of ‘The Toy Bulldog’ Donnie Ursua,” reminisced Puyat.
Clearly, those who know their boxing have realized that Casimero is a star who is only now getting the attention he richly deserves.
Gello-ani expressed disappointment over the failure of Philippine television networks to support Casimero so he could fight before a hometown crowd. He said the reason he has to fight abroad is because he doesn’t get any assistance in staging the champ’s world title defenses in Manila, a really expensive proposition, considering the need to pay the fighters in dollars, take care of roundtrip travel for the challenger, his trainer and manager, plus hotel accommodation and internal travel.
Gello-ani said he told the local TV networks: ”If you don’t want to support us, don’t worry we can take him abroad. That is why he is known as The Road Warrior. Casimero is the real champion and we are very happy that he has changed a lot. He has the courage, the talent and something to show to the Philippine market. We need TV to back up a world championship.”
He pointed out that TV5 had supported two or three of his fights abroad, including the riot-marred title fight against Lazarte.
With the Manny Pangilinan network now headed by Chot Reyes and moving to a format built around sports, he is hoping that the relationship could be renewed.
Clearly, with his latest impressive victories and the accolades he has received, the best-kept secret in boxing is no longer a secret.