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| John Riel Casimero needed only one round to finish off Saul Sanchez. |
DASMARINAS--John Riel Casimero did not mind the consequences of his failure to make weight and just dominated American opponent Saul Sanchez in their Sunday showdown at the Yokohama Budokan.
Forced to wear thicker gloves after going one kilogram beyond the 122-pound limit, Casimero quickly downed Sanchez just 22 seconds into the bout.
Sanchez made the eight count and had some bright moments midway into Round 1, but a 1-2 combination from Casimero floored him once more as the end was already in sight.
After seeing that Sanchez was no longer answering to Casimero's staggering shots, the referee called it a fight and gave Casimero the knockout with only 19 seconds left in the round.
Casimero won his 34th career bout, his 23rd via knockout, against four defeats and one draw as he remains undefeated as a junior featherweight.
Sanchez, meanwhile, dropped to 21-4 as he was knocked out for the first time in his career.
The other Filipino in the card, Vince Paras, lost to hometown favorite Hiroto Kyoguchi via majority decision.
Kyoguchi barely escaped a heavily contested flyweight bout as he got the nod of two judges who scored the bout 96-94.
The third judge scored the bout 95-95.
Kyoguchi moved up to 19-2, while Paras dropped to 21-3-1.
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