Johnriel “Quadro Alas” Casimero just could not hide his frustration over the apparent reluctance of Japanese pound-for-pound star Naoya “Monster” Inoue to settle the issue about who is the superior fighter between them once and for all.
The flashy Filipino knockout artist, coming off a resounding fourth-round knockout of heavy-handed southpaw Luis Nery of Mexico in Nagoya, said his rousing win will only make it even more difficult for Inoue to fulfill Casimero’s wish of fighting him.
“Inoue’s going to hide inside his house; he won’t get out,” said Casimero, who has been taunting Inoue for years but unable to lure him into fighting him.
Casimero swears he is willing to face Inoue either at super-bantamweight (122 pounds) or even at featherweight (126 pounds).
“If Inoue wants a tune-up fight, he can fight me. I will fight him,” said the 37-year-old Casimero, who scored a total of six knockdowns before finally destroying the much younger Nery with a savage right-left combination to the head.
Inoue doesn’t have a fixed schedule as of this time since he just beat Junto Nakatani last May at the Tokyo Dome.
There are talks that Inoue will soon battle young gun Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez of the United States but nothing is definite as of yet since Rodriguez has a scheduled fight coming up.
Kameda Promotions has Casimero as one of its top talents and the Leyte native insists that he will oblige with what his team will decide on.
The victory over the rugged Nery, who didn’t meet the contracted weight of 124 pounds, raised Casimero’s win-loss-draw record to 36-5-1 with 25 knockouts.
Most importantly, the emphatic win restored excitement and renewed faith in Casimero, who easily made weight after several instances of bad experiences of not making it in the Philippines and even abroad.
A three-division world champion, Casimero’s recent sensational showing went viral on social media.
