Casimero: The unknown champ?

Who is he? He weighs in at 108 pounds a day before a fight. He hails from Ormoc and has made Cebu his residence where he also trains and “works” as a professional boxer. He has won the world light flyweight title twice although the first one was had the tag of “interim” attached. He has also fought for the world flyweight championship (112 pounds). He just defended his International Boxing Federation world light flyweight championship for the first time last week and has since returned to Cebu without the fanfare that the other Pinoy world champions get. If you don’t know him, I’m not that surprised.

Johnriel Casimero is his name and boxing is his game. And yes, he’s at the same level as the other current Pinoy world champs like Nonito Donaire and Donnie Nietes. Let’s add in Manny Pacquiao since he’s still a world champ but without a belt. But unlike his other co-world champions, he isn’t as popular and well-known since his rise to winning the world championship came through the “so-called” back door. He won his championship on foreign land since he was fortunate enough to have an international match-maker who found the right fights at the right time. And he also defended this title overseas. In sum, he hasn’t had a world title fight here in the Philippines. The irony of it all is that it took a non-Pinoy matchmaker named Sampson Lewkowicz who partnered with local promoter Sammy Gello-ani to make Casimero a world champ.

How did Casimero win it via the backdoor? For starters, Casimero didn’t have the boxing promotions/management support that Cebu’s other world champ Nietes had. Donnie had ALA Promotions slowly but surely building his career through the years and working his way to world title fights both here in the Philippines and Mexico. ALA’s Pinoy Pride series took care of Donnie and assured him of a TV-based undertaking to win his title, defend his title and stay popular in the Philippines. Donnie’s face was splashed on ABS-CBN’s programs, plugs and even on radio. That’s instant packaging and media exposure for Donnie. On the other hand, Casimero has had to rely on the timely calls of Leckowicz for a rare opportunity to challenge for a world title fight abroad. Casimero wasn’t showcased on a local TV network’s boxing series or TV programs before he fought for a world title. Prior to his first fight for a title overseas, Casimero was content with simply fighting in SGG-promoted fights here in the country. But these were isolated, organized separately and not part of a big series of events or fights produced for TV. But with or without TV and big corporate backers, Casimero treated all these fights as the much-needed preparatory work for a possible shot at a world title. And when the first call for a world title fight came, he went all out and won the interim WBO light flyweight title over the popular Cesar Canchila. Casimero lost the title to Mexican Ramon Garcia Hirales in his next fight in Mexico and then lost again, this time in a world flyweight title fight against Moruti Mthalane in South Africa. After two straight losses, one would assume that his career was just a one-hit wonder and he was due to fade away. But he plodded on, won a tune-up fight in Cebu before getting yet another call to fight for the interim IBF world title fight against Luiz Lazarte in Argentina. This was clearly the turning point of Casimero’s career. He not only won the title by TKO. He also won the hearts of many after the post-fight mess that saw the Pinoy team being mauled by the Argentinian supporters of Lazarte.

Casimero’s road to his two world championships have been really tough in the sense that he has had to rely on “foreign aid” to get it done. Thanks to a foreigner named Lewkowicz, Casimero gets to fight abroad as a norm, and also gets to earn good money: US dollars at that! But somewhere along the way, shouldn’t the Philippines give Casimero the love and support due to a world champion? Can’t the country host at least a world title defense for Casimero on local shores, whether in Manila, Cebu or even Ormoc? This is where SGG Promotions could use the help of sports enthusiasts and pros in the field of sports marketing, TV and events management. I can’t help but compare, but when ALA shifted from being a simple management/training/promoting outfit to becoming a boxing promotions outfit with international aspirations, they hit it off very well with ABS-CBN. Remember that ALA Promotions has had a partnership with just about every boxing production and TV outfit in the country over the past two decades. It took awhile but they’ve finally hit paydirt today.

It’s high time that Casimero get the support of other boxing backers out there. He can’t go on living off the backdoor support of foreign aid and face the risk of losing his title overseas again.

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Time-out: Dear DPWH: Closing the northbound lane in Tayud, Consolacion is acceptable but please speed up your work. Nothing seems to be accomplished there.

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