Notebook: Casimero on Rigondeaux showdown: 'He better fight me and not run'
Buatsi steps up; Showtime big combat sports night; more
At first, WBO bantamweight world titlist John Riel Casimero was scheduled to defend against former unified junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, who dropped down to bantamweight and won a secondary belt in 2020.
Then, after Nonito Donaire easily knocked out Nordine Oubaali in the fourth round to win a bantamweight title for the third time on May 29, Showtime and Premier Boxing Champions — with Rigondeaux’s OK — decided to match Donaire with Casimero instead in a higher-profile unification fight.
But soon after, Donaire withdrew from the bout because he was very upset with the way Filipino countryman Casimero and his team handled his enrollment in random Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency testing program and with Team Casimero’s nasty attacks on social media against his wife/manager/trainer Rachel Donaire.
With Donaire out, Rigondeaux found himself back in the fight, which will take place in the main event of a PBC bantamweight tripleheader on Saturday (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
While Casimero would have liked to face Donaire to unify 118-pound belts, he is just fine with returning to original opponent Rigondeaux, who outpointed Donaire to unify 122-pound world titles in his biggest win in 2013.
“Nonito Donaire didn’t want to fight me but that’s OK,” Casimero said. “Donaire is easy for me. Now, I have Rigondeaux and I know he’s very experienced. He’s a two-time division world champion and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. This will be a great fight.
“Rigondeaux has a much different style from Donaire. I’m actually much more excited to fight Rigondeaux because Donaire is scared of me. I don’t think Rigondeaux is scared. If he’s not scared, he better fight me and not run.”
Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KOs), a southpaw, who won Olympic gold medals for Cuba in 2000 and 2004 before finally defecting, settling in Miami and turning pro in 2009, has been a mostly defensive-oriented fighter throughout his career and made for many dreadfully boring fights. But he is 40 now and his legs aren’t the same as they once were, so he has been in more crowd-pleasing fights in recent years even though his last fight — a split decision over Liborio Solis for a vacant secondary bantamweight title in February 2020 — was a snoozer of the highest order.
Casimero (30-4, 21 KOs), 32, who will be making his second title defense and coming off an 11-month layoff, hopes that Rigondeaux doesn’t show up.
“I want this to be a fight,” Casimero said. “The fans want this to be a fight. I hope Rigondeaux doesn’t run. If he does, this will be a boring fight. His old fights are no good. All he does is run, run, run. I want the Rigondeaux that doesn’t run, the one that boxes and fights.
“I believe that my work rate will overwhelm Rigondeaux. We put together a nice strategy with my trainer for Rigondeaux. We’ve watched a lot of tape on him. We just hope that the Rigondeaux that fought Nonito Donaire on a bicycle doesn’t show up. We want to see the one we’ve seen recently that comes to fight. I want to excite the people at the Dignity Health Sports Park. It’s a very special place to me because that’s where I won the WBO title. It will be another great fight if Rigondeaux comes to fight. When I beat Rigondeaux, he’s going to retire. He’s finished. I just hope Rigondeaux leaves his bicycle at home and brings his boxing shoes and comes to fight.”
Rigondeaux couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of his style. All he knows is that it worked for him through some 400 amateur fights and all but one pro fight, when he quit after the sixth round of a one-sided loss to then-junior lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in December 2017. It was a fight for which Rigondeaux moved up two weight classes.
“All these jokers always talk a lot about making me retire, but they have to do it in the ring,” Rigondeaux said through an interpreter at Thursday’s final news conference. “Let’s see what you do on Saturday. I’m still right here. He’s knocked out six guys in a row, but none of them are in the same class as me. He’s going to have the devil in front of him on Saturday.
“I’m only worried about the title that Casimero has. I’m coming for the WBO belt. Everyone who is here knows my story and what I’ve done at 122 pounds. I’m going to do the same thing at 118-pounds. Casimero is no exception. He’s just standing in my way.”
Also on the card:
Antonio Russell (18-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, and the younger brother of featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr., will step up his competition level and face former bantamweight titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-2, 12 KOs), 28, of Puerto Rico, for a vacant interim bantamweight title. Rodriguez has dropped two fights in a row,
Former bantamweight titlist and two-time U.S. Olympian Rau’shee Warren (18-3, 4 KOs), 34, of Cincinnati, will face fellow southpaw Damien Vazquez (15-2-1, 7 KOs), 24, of Las Vegas, in a 10-rounder.
Buatsi stepping up
Light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi, who claimed a bronze medal for Great Britain in the 2016 Olympics, has moved steadily up the ranks since turning pro with Matchroom Boxing in July 2017.
He will take another step up in opposition when he faces Richard Bolotniks in the main event of Matchroom Boxing’s “Fight Camp” card on Saturday (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET) in the garden of Matchroom’s headquarters in Brentwood, England.
The 28-year-old Buatsi (14-0, 12 KOs) will face a Bolotniks (18-5-1, 8 KOs), 31, of Latvia, who is on a good run. He has won seven fights in a row, including winning the MTK Global Golden Contract tournament in December, since his last loss in 2018.
“People have been asking for me to step up and here we are,” Buatsi said this week. “I know what I have got to do. If it gets tough, I still know what I need to do. I’ve covered all bases in camp, so I am ready, so tune in and you’ll see.
“It’s part of the game and I understand it and it’s a compliment that people want to see me in with better competition. It’s natural for people to want to see and that’s what is next in line, so it’s down to me to handle it. I saw (Bolotniks) box in the Golden Contract final, but it was just one round and a bit of him against Hosea Burton, and that’s it. I’ve always said that it’s about improving myself as a fighter and covering all angles and aspects of myself and once I do that, I feel that I can do that with anyone put in front of me. I’ll be there for every round and if I sense any vulnerability from Bolotniks it's game over, I'll take him out.”
Showtime’s combat sports night
Showtime on Friday made official what Fight Freaks Unite reported was likely on Thursday: It has moved the card headlined by the Stephen Fulton-Brandon Figueroa junior featherweight title unification fight off of Sept. 11 — which is the date for the higher-profile Oscar De La Hoya-Vitor Belfort pay-per-view.
The new date will be Sept 18 at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, which will give the network a huge combat sports night.
The boxing event, which will also include Ra’eese Aleem defending his interim junior featherweight belt against former unified titleholder Daniel Roman and also possibly include rising welterweight star Jaron Ennis, will open the evening 9 p.m. ET. It will be immediately followed by Bellator MMA 266 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. That card is headlined by a light heavyweight fight between former 205-pound champion Phil Davis and Yoel Romero in his Bellator debut.
Pacquiao-Ugas prelims on Fox
Premier Boxing Champions announced on Friday the remainder of the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas card that will take place Aug. 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, including three preliminary bouts that will air live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET as a lead in to the start of the Fox Sports pay-per-view portion of the card at 9 p.m.
The three televised Fox prelim fights:
Fort Wayne, Indiana, lightweight Frank Martin (13-0, 10 KOs), 26, an Errol Spence Jr. training partner, taking on Ryan Kielczweski (30-5, 11 KOs), 32, of Quincy, Massachusetts, in a 10-rounder.
Lightweight Jose Valenzuela (8-0, 5 KOs), 22, a Mexico native fighting out of Seattle, versus Esteban Sanchez (17-1, 8 KOs), 22, of Mexico, in an eight-rounder.
Heavyweight Steven Torres (4-0, 4 KOs), 23, of Reading, Pennsylvania, facing Justin Rolfe (6-2-1, 4 KOs), 29, of Fairfield, Maine, in a four- or six-rounder.
Quick hits
Michael Conlan (16-0, 8 KOs), who outpointed former junior featherweight world titlist TJ Doheny (22-3, 16 KOs) in an all-Irish bout to claim the WBA’s vacant interim featherweight belt on Aug. 6 in Belfast, suffered a hamstring tear during the fight and will be sidelined. “No running on holiday for me,” Conlan wrote on social media. “Got a scan (Thursday) and it seems I’ve suffered a grade 2 tear on my hamstring from the fight. I remember it happening around round 5!”
The 10-round fight between Mexican junior welterweight Pablo Cesar Cano (33-7-1, 23 KOs) and Puerto Rico’s Danielito Zorrilla (15-0, 11 KOs), which was schedule to be streamed as part of the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Egidijus Kavaliauskas card Saturday on DAZN at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, was canceled on Friday. Zorrilla was on site and weighed in at 139.8, but Cano was unable to get into the United States due to a delay in receiving his visa. Golden Boy told Fight Freaks Unite that Cano’s visa was approved and was being sent but that it was delayed in shipping. It was supposed to be in his hands earlier in the week but he had still not gotten it by Friday afternoon and the fight was called off. Golden Boy said it plans to reschedule it.
Weights from Frisco, Texas, for Saturday’s Golden Boy card on DAZN: Vergil Ortiz Jr. 147 pounds, Egidijus Kavaliauskas 146.6; Roger Gutierrez 130, Rene Alvarado 129.2 (for Gutierrez’s WBA “regular” junior lightweight title); Felix Alvarado 107.6, Israel Vazquez 107.6; George Rincon 142.2, Nikolai Buzolin 143; Alex Martin 137, Josec Ruiz 135.4; Alex Rincon 153.4, Sonny Duversonne 154.8.
Weights from Tulsa for Saturday’s Top Rank on ESPN card: Joshua Franco 114.2 pounds, Andrew Moloney 114.8 (for Franco's WBA secondary junior bantamweight title); Nico Ali Walsh 162.4, Jordan Weeks 161; Arnold Barboza Jr. 139.8, Antonio Moran 139; Joshua Greer Jr. 117.6, Jason Moloney 117.6; Trey Lippe Morrison 229, Don Haynesworth 288.6; Karlos Balderas 131.6, Fidel Cervantes 131.6; Genesis Servania 132.8, Andres Cortes 133; Albert Bell 132.8, Julio Cortez 133.2; Abraham Nova 127.2, Richard Pumicpic 127.4.
Weights from Carson, Calif., for Saturday’s Showtime card: John Riel Casimero 118 pounds, Guillermo Rigondeaux 117½ (for Casimero’s WBO bantamweight title); Antonio Russell 116¾, Emmanuel Rodriguez 118 (for vacant WBA interim bantamweight title); Rau’shee Warren 117½; Damien Vazquez 117¼; Brandun Lee 141½, Ezequiel Fernandez 138½.
Weights from Brentwood, England, for the Matchroom Boxing “Fight Camp” card Saturday on DAZN: Joshua Buatsi 174¾, Richard Bolotniks 174½; Joe Cordina 134, Joshua Hernandez 132¾; Michael McKinson 146½, Przemyslaw Runowski 146¼; Hopey Price 123¾, Claudio Grande 121½; Kash Farooq 117½, Luis Gerardo Castillo 116¼; Raymond Ford 126, Reece Bellotti 124¼; Zelfa Barrett 136¼, Viorel Simon 139¾.
The IBF on Friday announced the death of its ratings chairman Anibal Miramontes, who spent decades involved in boxing, including years running official record keeper Fight Fax. “He was an asset to the IBF and well known throughout the sport,” the IBF said in a statement. “He will be missed. Our thoughts are with his immediate family at this difficult time. Rest In Peace.” Miramontes, who was from Argentina but lived in New Jersey, also worked at various times as a boxing judge and supervisor.
Casimero-Rigondeaux photo: Sean Michael Ham/PBC; Buatsi photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing