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| For the first time since losing his chance to face Paul Butler, John Riel Casimero struggled to make weight again. |
MANILA—John Riel Casimero added another chapter to his history of weight-cutting problems as he enters his Sunday night bout against American opponent Saul Sanchez in Yokohama overweight.
Scheduled to fight a 10-round junior featherweight bout, Casimero first weighed in a full kilogram above the 122-pound limit.
He was given one hour to shed off the two-pound excess weight but only got slimmer by one pound in his last chance.
As a consequence, Casimero would have to use heavier gloves against Sanchez, who easily made weight at 121.7 pounds.
The 35-year-old native of Ormoc has been dealing with weight issues at least since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, more notably against Paul Butler.
Casimero's bout against Butler for the WBO bantamweight title, initially scheduled for 2021, was pushed back by four months after Casimero suffered gastritis during training camp, an early sign that he has weight problems.
When the bout was about to finally take place, though, Casimero was stripped of the world title after he resorted to sauna just to make the 118-pound limit, which was not allowed in British boxing rules.
He was then declared out for the bout with Jonas Sultan coming in as a replacement, and Butler made quick work of Sultan to become the interim champ then.
Already aware that he is no longer making weight at 118, Casimero jumped to 122 and won his first two bouts there, knocking out Ryo Akaho in a controversial match that was initially declared a no-contest if not for Akaho's confessions, and outplaying Filipus Nghitumbwa for the WBO's secondary belt, the global title.
Casimero, though, settled for a technical draw, the first in his career against 33 wins and four defeats, against Yukinori Oguni last year due to an accidental headbutt.
Although the WBO global junior featherweight title is not on the line, Casimero missing weight just added uncertainty if WBO's sixth-ranked contender, number seven in the WBC rankings, would finally get a shot at undisputed 122-pound king Naoya Inoue, a match he has long been demanding for.
This might also leave Casimero with no choice but to move to the featherweights, where he needs to fall in line to get a shot at either Rey Vargas, Brandon Figueroa, Nick Ball, Angelo Leo, or Rafael Espinoza.
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