Long before he became a huge hit on social media, I had been following the career of Johnriel Casimero, whose fighting style and attitude made him a crowd-favorite.
Recently, Casimero remains in the news for the wrong reasons.
Instead of his sensational first-round knockout being celebrated, there are quite a number of fight fans — and even Casimero fans — who have expressed dismay over his latest misadventure.
But what’s pretty alarming is the monstrous numbers who have openly supported Casimero.
Most of these guys are on social media, many of them probably hiding under assumed names and aliases to escape being tracked down and identified.
The guys I am talking about are obviously fan boys and bandwagoners, fellows whose argument is based on what they hear from Casimero and his camp.
For coming in overweight against Saul Sanchez, they reasoned out that, in the end, a win is still a win.
Following Casimero’s antics, the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) slapped him with a one-year suspension.
Immediately, his fans came to his defense, saying what JBC did was to lead Casimero away from Naoya Inoue, the top dog in boxing and the destructive dude Casimero is targeting to fight.
“Don’t worry guys, it is only in Japan where Casimero is not allowed to fight,” said one of his supporters.
“He can still fight in the US, Korea, Dubai and even in the Philippines,” he added.
“One year is just a short time. Soon, he will be back in the ring,” hollered another.
But what they just refused to acknowledge is the fact that Casimero’s statements during his past-fight presser was a total disaster.
You see, Casimero even bragged that it was not really a big deal to come in overweight, but boxing promoters saw in Casimero as somebody who will most likely give them king-sized headaches.
Just imagine a promoter not knowing until the day before the fight if his show is going to proceed or not because Casimero might not even make weight.
Knowing who’s around him, it’s not surprising that he is acting that way.
Honestly, he is that one guy who can beat Inoue.
I have been telling friends and boxing fans how Casimero could inflict pain and punishment even on a pound-for-pound fighter like Inoue.
But given the circumstances surrounding Casimero, it is only becoming even harder to pit him with Inoue.
Even Top Rank, which has a big stake in Inoue, is reluctant to have Casimero because his attitude is something not to be overlooked.
His “solid” fans are unaware that he has failed to make weight thrice in world title fights stretching back to his first caper in 2014 in Cebu when he weighed in over five pounds above the light-flyweight limit and got stripped of the world title.
Assuming Top Rank matches him with Inoue and Casimero — still surrounded by his impotent team — fails to make 122 lbs, I won’t be surprised if Bob Arum suffers a heart attack.
