Llover, Casimero grab spotlight

It’s green and go for two crucial fights featuring marquee Filipino punchers taking place Saturday in Tokoname, Japan.

Firstly, reigning Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight king Kenneth Llover will make a title defense for the second time against Ayati Sailike of China.

In one of the undercard matches, three-division champion Johnriel Casimero battles Tom Mizukoshi in a featherweight eight-rounder.

The two fighters — who share the same promotional outfit in Japan — made the official weigh-in on Friday.

Llover, unbeaten in 16 fights with 11 knockouts, is heavily favored to repulse Sailike and make another big step towards a world title shot next year.

Evidence that Llover is being groomed for bigger things is the involvement in training of two-time world champion Gerry Peñalosa, who is his promoter.

“Got big plans for Kenneth in 2026,” said Peñalosa, who is joined in handling Llover by lead trainer Dindo Campo and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza.

Llover, fighting out of General Trias in Cavite, is rated by the three major sanctioning bodies.

As for Casimero, there is no option or Plan B for him but to get past Mizukoshi as he and his team try their best to propel the heavy-handed fighter into being relevant following a string of bad decisions.

Parading a 34-5-1 mark with 23 knockouts, Casimero is in the final stage of his bid to get another shot at the big time.

After splitting with the well-connected Sean Gibbons in 2022, Casimero’s career has taken a nosedive.

It’s going to be a major event and it will be completely up to them if they can close out Philippine boxing in 2025 with a big bang.