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SPORTS SHORTS 5: RIGONDEAUX WANTS TO FIGHT AGAINST CASIMERO WHO ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, Dec 26, 2020
Two-time Olympic gold medal winner Guillermo Rigondeaux challenged WBO bantamweight champion Johnriel Casimero in a possible unification bout in March or April of next year. It would be the most meaningful fight for Rigondeaux since his loss to Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine in December 2017. Rigondeaux won the vacant World Boxing Association regular bantamweight title last February against Venezuelan Liborio Solis by spilled decision.
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Rigondeaux held the WBA (Regular) bantamweight title since February 2020 and the unified WBA (Super), WBO and Ring magazine super bantamweight titles between 2013 and 2017. Lomachenko defeated Rigondeaux for the weight championship WBO Super Feather on December 9, 2017 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko and Rigondeaux are considered two of the best amateurs in history, with each boxer winning two Olympic gold medals. It was the first time that two Olympic gold medal winners fought professionally and Lomachenko won by technical knockout when Rigondeaux withdrew after the sixth round due to a suspected left hand injury.
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Following the loss to Lomachenko, the 40-year-old veteran defeated two Mexican fighters Giovanni Delgado by KO in the 1st round and Julio Ceja by KO in the 8th round, but neither of these opponents were on the same level as Casimero who has been champion. in three divisions. The boxer known as “Quadro Alas” was the WBO bantamweight champion from November 2019 and the IBF junior flyweight champion from 2012 to 2013 and the holder of the IBF flyweight title in 2016.
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“[Casimero is] the one I want. It is the perfect one for my desire to unify titles. I have the World Boxing Association and he owns the World Boxing Organization. So I have to overcome him to take his title and keep adding victories over the champions, “Rigondeaux told George Ebro as quoted by Boxing Scene.” He’s a veteran and I respect him as a champion, but I’ve done it. [respect] for everyone and I know how to adapt to the opponent, whoever he is, when the bell rings. ”
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“Tara tol! Walang takbuhan! Basagan lang ng mukha (Come on brother! Let’s not run! Just destroying our faces)!” Casimero said on social media quoted by Roy Luarca of Rappler. Ormoc City, 30, a native of Leyte, is known as a fearless fighter who will not back down from any deadly opponent. He was scheduled to take on Japan’s dreaded “Monster” Naoya Inoue last April, but was canceled due to the pandemic.
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Rigondeaux, now 40, born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba has 20 wins, 13 of them by KO, with only one loss to Lomachenko and one without competition to Moisés Flores of Mexico. Casimero, meanwhile, has 30 wins, with 21 KO wins and 4 losses. He lost to South African Moruti Mthalane by technical knockout in the fifth round, to Mexican Ramón García Hirales by split decision, to Thai Amnat Ruenroeng by unanimous decision and to compatriot Jonas Sultan by unanimous decision.
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LeBron James surpassed Oscar Robertson as the second all-time scorer on Christmas Day after finishing with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists in the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks, 138-115 at Staples Center. Robertson scored a total of 377 points in 12 games on Christmas Day with four triple-doubles. James now has 383 in 15 Yuletide games. Kobe Bryant remains the Christmas top scorer with 395 in 16 games.
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Celebrated Mexican coach Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain boldly predicted that Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez could knock out Gennadiy Golovkin if they fight for the third time in a highly sought after trilogy. He has seen Canelo greatly improved during the recent beating of undefeated super middleweight Callum Smith. “This time Canelo did convince me,” Nacho told ESPN Deportes. “I really liked the way he overcame his opponent’s guard, it was not easy, the other fighter is always good with the jab and in this fight it was very difficult for him to land the jab, which is one of his best shots. . ”
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Nacho said that if Canelo executed his hook to the liver better, he would finish off his opponents earlier. He believes that that murderous blow would take out Canelo’s opponents. “I got the impression that if I had thrown [that punch] a little more to his opponent would have made them stop the fight, but his performance was close to perfection, ”Beristain was quoted as saying by Miguel Rivera of Boxing Scene.
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Kai Sotto was unable to play Gilas Pilipinas in the third window of the 2021 Fiba Asian Cup qualifiers due to his commitments to the G League team Ignite. The NBA G League will play a bubble tournament in February with 17 teams already showing interest, according to Draft Express’s Jonathan Givony. If the schedule moves forward, Sotto will not participate in the Gilas Pilipinas games at Clark. Sotto will be dressing up in his first season in the developmental league, where he will join his team with some of America’s best high school stars and NBA veterans at Ignite. Gilas is scheduled to fight South Korea on February 18, Indonesia on February 20 and again against South Korea on February 22 in their difficult final Group A assignments.
Click here for a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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