JOHNRIEL Casimero commiserated with compatriot Nonito Donaire Jr. following the devastating loss he suffered at the hands of undefeated Japanese Naoya Inoue on Tuesday.
And for that matter, he couldn’t wait to have his hands against the best fighter in the bantamweight division today.
The former WBO champion expressed his intention to fight Inoue in the aftermath of the 29-year-old champion’s second-round destruction of the 39-year-old Filipino to unify the WBC, WBA, and IBF 118-lbs titles at the Saitama Arena in Japan.
[See Inoue finishes off Donaire in devastating fashion]
Casimero obviously watched the rematch and posted screen grabs of the fight, including the first knockout scored by Inoue near the end of the first round.
The 31-year-old Casimero admitted Inoue was the better fighter and congratulated the man he was supposed to meet in a fight that had to be pushed back at the height of the global pandemic.
But at the same time, he didn’t mince words about finally facing Inoue in the ring.
“Ok lang yan bro Nonito Donaire Jr.,” Casimero posted in one of his Facebook pages. “Congrats sayo Naoya Inoue. Ako na talaga ang alas.”
In a succeeding post, Casimer said, ‘Bawi tayo.”
But Inoue appeared not interested in meeting Casimero, who taunted and mocked the Japanese in the past especially after their original April 2020 unification match was cancelled when COVID-19 happened.
Casimero’s camp had since accused the Inoue camp of ducking him after the Japanese chose to face other fighters the moment their bout was put off.
Unfortunately, the Filipino no longer holds a title belt after being stripped of his WBO crown last April.
The title is now held by Paul Butler of England, who ironically, Inoue mentioned as the one he’s looking forward to fight next in a bid to become the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world.
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