By CARLO ANOLIN
Manny Pacquiao could not help but take a jab at Floyd Mayweather Jr. after watching the WBO bantamweight clash between his protege John Riel Casimero and Guillermo Rigondeaux over the weekend.
“I’m happy, I’m glad that he (Casimero) retained his belt but the thing is his opponent did not want to fight him. It’s like Manny Pacquiao [versus] Mayweather,” Pacquiao told a bunch of reporters covering his training camp in Los Angeles, California.
This was the latest comment coming from Pacquiao towards his rival Mayweather, who beat the Filipino boxing legend in the blockbuster match dubbed as the “Fight of the Century” in May 2015.
The two welterweight stars have been back-and-forth the past few months but it was Mayweather who first criticized Pacquiao’s decorated career.
Casimero, who is trained by MP Promotions’ Nonoy Neri, scored a unanimous decision win against Rigondeaux to defend his WBO title for the second time.
In Casimero’s case, the bout did not meet the high expectations as the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California was showered with loud boos from dismayed fans due to the lackluster boxing action.
The 12-round fight set a new CompuBox record for the wrong reason – lowest total tallied punches in its 36-year history.
Casimero landed a total of 47 punches of the 297 attempts (16 percent) compared to Rigondeaux’s 44 clean shots out of 221 (20 percent).
Interestingly, the veteran Cuban boxer also took a jab at Casimero and said “he’s no Pacquiao.”
“But he is no Pacquiao and my chin is still on my head. Congratulations to the Filipino fans. You have a great champion, his name is Pacquiao,” tweeted Rigondeaux.
