Casimero out to prove worth

It’s not often that a fighter is awarded a world title outside the ring but Johnriel Casimero of Ormoc City got the IBF’s nod as the new lightflyweight champion recently as his status was elevated from interim to permanent with Mexico’s Ulises Solis unable to defend the throne because of a broken jaw.

Solis was given up to Oct. 30 to stake the IBF 108-pound diadem but doctors ruled out his return after inserting a bone on the left side of his shattered jaw in a surgery last May. Solis suffered the injury in a street brawl with WBC lightmiddleweight champion Saul Alvarez in Guadalajara last October. Alvarez, who outweighs Solis by close to 50 pounds, accused the victim of making advances on his girlfriend before the mauling incident.

Last February, Casimero halted Luis Lazarte in the 10th round to capture the interim IBF lightflyweight crown in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The victory triggered a riot involving Lazarte’s cohorts in a truckers union as sympathizers attacked Casimero and his cornermen, including manager Sammy Gello-ani. The IBF gave Solis a grace period of nine months within which to make a mandatory defense of the championship but the Mexican was advised by doctors to stay away from the gym up to late this year. As a result, the IBF stripped Solis of the title and handed it over to Casimero.

With Casimero ascending the IBF throne, the Philippines is back in the boxing hierarchy with four world titlists – the others are WBO lightflyweight champion Donnie Nietes, WBO flyweight king Brian Viloria and IBF/WBO superbantamweight titleholder Nonito Donaire. Manny Pacquiao is waiting in the wings to rejoin the elite cast.

“If ever Solis is cleared to fight again, he’ll be a challenger not the defending champion,” said Gello-ani. “Casimero was ready to defend the interim title against Sammy Gutierrez but he backed out. Then, we tried to get the highest available contender Luis Ceja but he wasn’t available. Finally, we booked Pedro Guevara. At first, we thought it would be a defense of the interim title, now it’s a defense of the permanent championship. We’re confident of victory and I think we have the edge because while Guevara is undefeated, he has never fought anyone of Casimero’s caliber. Casimero wants to prove he’s a fighting champion, that he’ll fight anyone, anywhere. Wherever you take Casimero, he always puts on a good show. He knocked out Cesar Canchila in Nicaragua and Lazarte in Argentina.”

Gello-ani will accompany Casimero and trainer Christopher Tepura to Los Angeles on a flight from Manila on July 30. They will stay three days in L. A. to rest and limber up before flying to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, for the fight at the Centro de Convenciones on Aug. 4.

“We were prepared for Ceja but now with Guevara, we don’t know what to expect,” said Gello-ani. “We’re told Guevara likes to fight in and out. We’ll make the adjustments. We haven’t studied his style on tape because films aren’t available of his fights. Even if we think Casimero has the advantage, we never take an opponent lightly. For us, every opponent is a hard opponent.”

Casimero, 22, has a 16-2 record, with 10 KOs. His only losses were a disputed split decision to Ramon Garcia in Mexico in 2010 and a fifth round stoppage to IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane in a bout where he couldn’t breathe properly because of South Africa’s high altitude. Guevara, a Mexican, has an 18-0-1 record, with 13 KOs, and holds the WBC Silver and North American Boxing Federation lightflyweight titles.

Gello-ani said his other prized protégé Marvin Sonsona is in General Santos City cooling his heels. Last June, Gello-ani sent Sonsona to Oxnard, California, to train in WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez’s camp for a month before taking on Mexico’s Cristobal Cruz at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. Instead of seizing the opportunity to train with Martinez, Sonsona complained of the tough regimen in the gym and gave up after a week. He claimed to be bothered by a bad back and a pulled muscle in his right leg. Dominican Republic fighter Javier Fortuna took Sonsona’s spot in the Las Vegas card and promptly knocked out Cruz in two rounds last July 6. The next day, Sonsona flew back to the Philippines with nothing to show except a stamp on his passport for a paid vacation.

Sonsona, 21, has a 16-1-1 record, with 13 KOs. In 2009, he decisioned Jose Lopez to wrest the WBO superflyweight title in Ontario. The next year, Sonsona was stopped by Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. in a bid for the WBO superbantamweight crown. Since the loss to Vazquez, Sonsona has fought only twice, beating Mexico’s Carlos Jacobo and the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Fulgencio.

“Sonsona is a city-life boy and his attitude has to change if he wants to pursue a boxing career,” said Gello-ani. “Sampson (Lewkowicz) had big plans for him if he beat Cruz in Las Vegas but that’s all down the drain. He’s a great talent but if he doesn’t have the discipline to train hard, nothing will happen. Casimero used to be like that but he’s changed. Now, he’s thinking of his future. I’m hoping Casimero can advise Sonsona and influence him to change his ways. Honestly, I think Sonsona could’ve fought in Las Vegas but he just couldn’t take the hard training. Before he left for the US, Sonsona did three weeks of training in our camp in Misamis Occidental and was impressive. So, if he wants to do it, he can. Of course, the training in Martinez’s camp is a lot harder than in ours. We want to build up his body but he has to cooperate. Our doors are still open for Sonsona. We’re waiting for him to come back. He’s still young. He has a long way to go but he must want to succeed and success can only come with hard work.”