KYONOSUKE Kameda tests whether former three-time world champion Johnriel Casimero is still good as advertised when they clash in a 10-round non-title bout Saturday in faraway Kyrgyzstan.
The fight marks the return of Casimero following a year-long hiatus after being suspended by the Japanese Boxing Commission for failing to make weight for his clash against Saul Sanchez in Yokohama, a fight which the Filipino eventually won by a first round stoppage.
READ: Casimero out to prove he still has it in comeback fight vs Kameda
Kameda now tries to expose if that one-year layoff has had an effect on the now 36-year-old loud-mouth Filipino.
The fight to be held at Bishkek Arena is set at super-featherweight. Both fighters weighed in at 127.4 pounds during the official weigh-in held on Friday.
A former world champion at light-flyweight, flyweight, and bantamweight, Casimero (34-4, 23 KOs) will be fighting the first of three bouts he signed with Japan-based promoter Koki Kameda.
Casimero's grand plans
The brash-talking Filipino is hoping to use the Kameda match as springboard in his long pursuit for a showdown with two-time undisputed champion Naoya Inoue.
Casimero and Inoue were already penciled for a unification showdown at bantamweight in 2020, but the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the match.
The fight was never revisited again.
A younger cousin of Kameda, a former world champion, Kyonosuke sports a 15-5 record with 9 KOs.
He is coming off a tough majority decision loss to Mexican David Picasso in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios WBC welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last July.
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