FORMER Filipino world champion Johnriel Casimero made it look easy and scored a fourth round stoppage of a weight-drained Luis Nery in their highly-anticipated featherweight showdown in Nagoya, Japan on Saturday.
The 37-year-old Casimero came out firing right away and knocked down Nery three times in the opening round to set the tone for the one-sided match at the Aichi Tokoname, Aichi Sky Expo.
It was the beginning of the end from there for the 31-year-old Mexican, who initially failed to make the 124-pound catchweight agreed upon for the 10-round, non-title bout.
Casimero put Nery down for good with a massive left to the head in the fourth, prompting referee Nobuto Ikehara to finally put a stop to the one-sided fight at the 2:18 mark.
Nery also went down once in rounds two and three as Casimero aggressively went after the game Mexican, who had to come in not more than 134 pounds during the morning weigh-in for the fight to push through.
‘Quadro Alas’ improved to a 36-5-1 record (25 KOs) as he won three of his last five bouts via stoppage.
The win also put the former three-time world champion in contention as a force in the featherweight division.
Nery is now 37-3 (28 KOs) and lost two of his last four fights via knockout including a six-round TKO against two-time world undisputed champion Naoya Inoue.
Worse, the Mexican, a former world bantamweight title holder, will serve a six-month suspension meted on him by the Japan Boxing Commission for failing to make weight during the official weigh-in for the Casimero fight on Friday.
He’s also bound to pay a percentage of his purse to Casimero likewise for the same infraction.
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