Casimero fights for relevance

Amid all the excitement over Naoya Inoue’s latest conquest, there was clearly one thing that stood out.

No longer on the agenda of the Japanese monster is one guy who is widely regarded as the fighter who has what it takes to handle him.

John Riel Casimero, the three-division champion, remains rated in the top 10 in the star-studded super-bantamweight ranks.

But he is not among those being eyed to take on Inoue next.

Instead, Australian Sam Goodman is the front-runner to the Inoue sweepstakes and a September date is being planned.

So where does Casimero stand?

The sad truth is that Casimero is down the line, perhaps miles and miles away in the pecking order.

He just turned 35 a few months ago and doesn’t have a scheduled fight as of this writing.

Since severing ties with the very influential MP Promotions, Casimero has figured in bouts against a bunch of nobodies, seeing action in Incheon, Manila and Tokyo.

Last time in Japan, his fight ended in a draw with ringsiders shocked that Casimero was huffing and puffing and seemed to lack endurance and stamina.

Nonoy Neri, a former member of Manny Pacquiao’s battery of trainers and who used to train Casimero, swears the brash and heavy-handed Leyte native is Inoue’s kryptonite.

“He is the one but with the way things are, it doesn’t appear that he will get that chance to face Inoue,” Neri said a few days ago.

Neri was right on the money, predicting that Inoue would knock Mexican challenger Luis Nery out.

He was precise in his forecast when he said Nery would suffer a knockout loss in the sixth round.

In my previous piece last week, I came up with a list of experts who gave their bold predictions.

They all favored Inoue but it was Neri, a good friend from way, way back during the early years of Pacquiao, who delivered the KO punch.

Anyway, if indeed Casimero is rapidly disintegrating, I would be one dude who would end up including this one on my list of boxing what-ifs.

Like Neri, I truly believe that Casimero is that one fellow who will send Inoue back to the Stone Age.

He doesn’t only hit hard. Casimero is gutsy and ultra-aggressive.

These are qualities that the vast majority of Inoue’s victims didn’t possess.

Casimero could also mess up Inoue’s mind, something Inoue didn’t experience when he went up the ring and beat all the title pretenders presented before him.

But then again, this question begs to be answered: Is a fight between Inoue and Casimero dead in the water?

Well, there could still be that chance.

Of course, boxing fans know who Turki Alalshikh is.

He is the newest boxing stakeholder who makes the big fights happen.

He could be the game changer.