FILIPINO Johnriel Casimero will have to go to London to legitimize his claim to being a three-time world boxing champion.
The camp of regular World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion Zolani Tete won the purse bid for his next title defense against Casimero on Sunday (Manila time), setting the stage for the Nov. 23 bout in London.
Queensberry Promotions of Frank Warren, which represents Tete, made a bid for $301,000, while TGB Promotions came up with a $258,500 bid on behalf of Casimero.
WBO president Paco Valcarcel announced the holding of the 12-round match two months from now.
Casimero’s camp planned to hold the fight in the U.S. had it won the purse bid.
Still, the Filipino doesn’t see any problem travelling to London to challenge the 31-year-old African champion, who has been out of the ring for almost a year now.
Casimero is coming off a 10-round destruction of Mexican Cesar Ramirez last August 24 to retain his WBO bantamweight interim belt at the San Andres multi-sports complex.
Shortly after, he made it known about his intention to fight Tete next.
The 29-year-old Casimero (28-4, 19 KOs) already fought in London in the past, scoring a 10th-round TKO win over Charlie Edwards to retain his International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title belt in 2016.
Tete (28-3, 21 KOs) has been inactive since he outpointed Mikhail Aloyan in their quarterfinal bout during the World Boxing Super Series last year.
The African champion was supposed to meet Filipino champion Nonito Donaire in the semifinals but backed out at the last minute after suffering a shoulder injury.
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