Casimero, Ramirez dispute WBO crown, slugfest free to public
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 09:25:31 +0000
After a tense moment during the weighin, John Riel Casimero finally conquered the scales and was given the green light to defend the World Boxing Organization bantamweight crown against Mexican Cesar Ramirez on Saturday at the San Andres Sports Complex.
John Riel Casimero is ready to defend his WBO crown.
Casimero initially came in at 118.8 lbs in the division that has a limit of 118 lbs. Ramirez, tall and rangy, didn’t have any trouble meeting the requirement as he tipped in at 117.6.
Under WBO rules, Casimero has up to two hours to shed off the excess baggage and that’s what Casimero did after two hours.
Casmero had a haircut and stripped off his underwear during the second weighin and tipped in at 118 lbs.
If Casimero failed to make 118, he would have been stripped off the WBO interim title and the title would have been declared vacant
“But we got a fight,” said Sean Gibbons, the right-hand man of Manny Pacquiao and president of MP Promotions.
During the two-hour period, Casimero was brought back to his hotel room at Bayview Park where a thick comforter was wrapped around him.
Casimero even had his hair trimmed to make sure that his weight goes down further.
In the undercard, two former amateur standouts are seeing action as well with 2016 Rio Olympian Charly Suarez meeting Vergel Puton in an eight-round super-feather brawl and Christian Pitt Laurente facing Christian Gabayeron in a six-round lightweight duel.
The boxing show is presented by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, which is inviting the public to watch the slugfest free of charge. (NICK GIONGCO)