John Riel Casimero’s bid to land a high-profile two-belt bantamweight bout with Nonito Donaire suffered a big blow yesterday when the World Boxing Organization (WBO) ordered him to make a mandatory defense against British Paul Butler.
WBO Championship Committee chairman Luis Batista-Salas has contacted the camps of Casimero and Butler to reach an agreement “20 days upon receipt of this letter to reach an agreement.”
Casimero was hoping to secure a marquee matchup with reigning World Boxing Council champion Donaire when two major decisions were made by the WBC and the WBO.
The WBC was the first to douse cold water on Casimero’s quest when the Mexico City-based governing body ordered Donaire to defend against another Filipino, the unbeaten Miami-based banger Reymart Gaballo.
The day after the WBC issued the order, the WBO, headquartered in Puerto Rico, released a ruling saying Casimero should put his crown on the line against the top-rated and mandatory challenger Butler.
Donaire and Casimero were being groomed to face off either 4 or 11 December but a promotional rift involving Casimero and Sean Gibbons, who heads MP Promotions, has escalated, putting a monkey wrench into the talks.
Donaire, who obviously wants Casimero as foe given the magnitude it brings, is starting to lose hope.
“It’s up to Casimero and MP Promotions to patch things up. Casimero said there are issues right now between him and his promoter. It is virtually impossible if they can’t work together unless MP grants a release,” Donaire told Daily Tribune.
“For the sake of his career, he needs to fix what’s going on. The other route may have him sidelined for a while.”
Donaire, 38, feels there is still hope the kinks can be ironed out.
“They can patch things up, being Sean (also) managing Gaballo. I am sure they can have an internal discussion as to what is best for both fighters and MP Promotions.”
But given the back-to-back decisions made by the WBC and WBO, it doesn’t look as if Casimero will be getting what he wants while putting Gaballo, a protege of fast-rising promoter JC Mananquil, in a position where everyone in the 118-lb division wants to be at.
Butler, who has never fought outside the United Kingdom, has a 33-2 record with 15 knockouts.
