Filipino knockout king John Riel Casimero finds himself caged with a jackal on 14 April with two world bantamweight title belts at stake.
Casimero, holder of the World Boxing Organization crown, battles Cuba’s Guillermo “The Jackal” Rigondeaux, the World Boxing Association ruler, in a venue to be named soon, according to Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime.
It will be tough for both fighters.
Casimero, though on the crest of a six-fight stoppage streak, will have to contend with a master boxer of the highest caliber in Rigondeaux.
While he is no longer that young at 40, Rigondeaux remains a formidable foe.
Carrying a 20-1-1 win-loss-draw record with 13 knockouts, Rigondeaux had a stellar amateur career.
He is a two-time Olympic champion, two-time world championships gold medalist and three-time World Cup titleholder.
Apart from these glowing credentials, Rigondeaux was a former Pan American Games and Central American titlist and seven-time Cuban national topnotcher.
Casimero, who totes a 30-4-1 ledger with 21 knockouts, is coming off back-to-back brutal victories over South African Zolani Tete and Ghanaian Duke Micah.
The 32-year-old Leyte-bred banger has vowed to knock Rigondeaux’s head off when they finally meet.
Rigondeaux, a southpaw, and Casimero, a rightie, are both 5-foot-4 but the Cuban has a three-inch advantage in reach, an edge he is expected to use against the always-on-attack-mode Casimero.
Casimero is hoping to use the Rigondeaux fight as a jump-off point towards a clash with the division’s acknowledged best, Japan’s Naoya Inoue.
