Rigondeaux vs. Casimero: Can Guillermo win on Aug.14th?

By Boxing News - 07/04/2021 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Guillermo Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KOs) will be looking to hog the glory that could have been Nonito Donaire’s by taking on WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero on August 14th on Showtime.

Rigondeaux will be looking to overturn the applecart when he faces the talented Casimero at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Casimero, 32, will likely be the favorite over Rigondeaux based on his youth and offensive skills.

Rigondeaux has lost a lot of mobility he once had, and he’s now forced to stand and trade with his opponents. However, despite his advanced age, Rigondeaux still has excellent punching power, hand speed, and defensive ability.

In Rigondeaux’s last three fights since losing to Vasily Lomachenko in 2017, he’s beaten these fighters:

  • Liborio Solia
  • Julio Ceja
  • Giovanni Delgado

Rigondeaux showed in those matches that his power is still dangerous, and his punch accuracy is as good as ever. He’s like another Naoya Inoue with his ability to hit his opponents with deadly accuracy and power.

Image: Rigondeaux vs. Casimero: Can Guillermo win on Aug.14th?

Interestingly, Donaire has chosen not to fight with Casimero (30-4, 21 KOs), so it’s now up to WBA 118-lb champion Rigondeaux, 40, to face him. Needless to say, this is a huge missed opportunity for the former four-division world champion Donaire.

Some fans think Nonito, 38, lost his nerve and decided he didn’t want to risk it against Casimero.

This is a fight that Donaire absolutely needed to build up his rematch with Naoya Inoue. But not taking the fight with Casimero complicates things for Inoue because he wanted to beat Donaire and capture his WBC and the WBO belt at the same time.

That won’t happen now that Donaire has backed out of his fight with dangerous Casimero.

What this means for Inoue is that he has to take an extra step for him to become the undisputed 118-lb champion.

Image: Rigondeaux vs. Casimero: Can Guillermo win on Aug.14th?

He must not only because Donaire won his WBC strap, but he’ll also need to beat the winner of the Rigondeaux vs. Casimero fight to get the WBO belt.

Inoue wanted to get this thing out of the way as quickly as possible so that he could move up to 122 and go after all the belts in that weight class while he’s still young.

The stakes are high for Rigondeaux because if he wins this fight, it’ll put him in a position to face IBF/WBA Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue (21-0 18 KOs) for life-changing money.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist Rigondeaux was the guy that originally slotted to fight Casimero in a unification fight, but he stepped aside to let Donaire take the match. But Donaire didn’t like a variety of things he was dealing with for the Casimero fight, so he pulled out.

YouTube video

Donaire pulled out because of drug testing and trash-talking that was going on. Although Casimero did agree to the drug testing, Donaire was fed up and chose to pull out of the fight.

What could be interesting is if Casimero and Donaire both win their next fights. Will Donaire be agreeable to fighting Casimero if he can get past Inoue, or will he choose not to face him because of a grudge?