By: Sean Crose
The 20-1 Guillermo Rigondeaux challenged the 30-4 John Riel Casimero for Casimero’s WBO bantamweight title. The scheduled twelve rounder was the main event of a Showtime card that aired live from Carson, California. Rigondeaux looked terrific in the first, slipping punches and controlling the tempo…until he went down from what was ruled a slip. The slick southpaw looked a bit rattled, however, for the remainder of the round. This may have had something to do with Casimero continually punching Rigondeaux when the man was down.
To his credit, Rigondeaux came back and had an impressive second, slipping away from his opponent, and landing sharp, clean punches. He then went to completely avoid his man in the third. Rigondeaux then tagged his man well in the first minute of the fourth. By the end of the round, Casimero returned to his corner having not been able to land effectively. Casimero took to holding and hitting in the first minute of the fifth. By the final minute of the round, he was able to land effectively a bit.
Rigondeaux counterpunched well in the sixth. Casimero spent the seventh essentially swinging and missing. Not that Rigondeaux himself was throwing a lot of punches. Casimero was able to land to the body well in the beginning of the eighth. He went on to have a better ninth. Rigondeaux landed very well in the tenth. The eleventh and twelfth were essentially more of the same – with Rigondeaux’s skills competing with Casimero’s aggression. The fight was ultimately ruled in favor of Casimero by split decision.