By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero is finally making his much anticipated boxing ring return following a year-long hiatus when he takes on former world title challenger Saul Sanchez on Oct. 15 in Yokohama, Japan.
The fight also marked the return of Casimero to the Land of the Rising Sun after his Japan debut, which also happened to be his last bout, ended up with a technical draw after his Japanese foe, Yukinori Oguni, sustained a bad cut from an accidental headbutt.
It’s been a year since then before Casimero, currently ranked No. 5 in World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 8 in the World Boxing Council (WBC), and No. 11 in the International Boxing Federation (IBF), finally makes his return against Sanchez in the 10-round bout.
The fight is deemed crucial to the future of Casimero’s career as he hopes to finally pique the interest of the unified bantamweight champion and Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue and land a potential title fight.
Sanchez, for one, is certainly no pushover being ranked No. 8 by the WBO and No. 13 by the WBC and once fought for the WBO bantamweight strap but lost to then champion Jason Moloney of Australia.
Experience, however, should be on the side of Casimero who is boasting a 33-4-1 with 22 knockouts, while Sanchez has 21-3 with 12 knockouts.
Also seeing action in the undercard is another Filipino pug in Vince Paras who is entering the final installment of his trilogy against Japanese former two-division world champion Hiroto Kyoguchi.
The 25-year-old Paras first fought and lost via unanimous decision to his Japanese counterpart in an IBF world minimumweight title bout in 2018. The Filipino then returned the favor six years later when he scored his own UD win over Kyoguchi in May this year in South Korea.
This time, at the home court of his Japanese foe, Paras, boasting a 21-2-1 record with 12 KOs, hope to put a fitting end to his rivalry with Kyoguchi, who currently sports a 18-2 record with 12 KOs
