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Philippines, 05 Feb 2026 |
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Will the Bantamweight Bubble Hold, or Burst? By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Tue, 20 Apr 2021  Clockwise: Casimero, Gaballo, Dasmariñas and Donaire. bub·ble /ˈbəb(ə)l/ (noun) 1. a thin sphere of liquid enclosing air or another gas. 2. used to refer to a good or fortunate situation that is isolated from reality or unlikely to last. In the next few months, we will know if this bubble of fortune and success at bantamweight we have been enjoying since 2018 will hold, or burst. On May 29, in a venue yet to be finalized in the USA, former multi division world champion Nonito Donaire will attempt for a third title reign at bantamweight when he challenge French defending beltholder Nordine Oubaali for the WBC crown. In June, former IBO world titlist Michael "Hot and Spicy" Dasmariñas gets the biggest break of his career as he attempts to pin Naoya Inoue his first loss and lift his unified WBA-IBF and Ring Magazine lineal world bantamweight championships in Las Vegas, Nevada in a Top Rank promotional card. Two months later, in August also in a venue yet to be specified, Johnriel Casimero will tangle with veteran wily Cuban Guillermo "El Chacal" Rigondeaux in a sort of a title unification with Casimero's undisputed WBO and Rigo's secondary WBA belts on the line. In between, possibility is also high that we will get to see Raymart Gaballo making the first defense of his WBC interim world bantamweight title in an immediate rematch with ex IBF beltholder Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico as mandated by the WBC itself. That's an unprecedented four world bantamweight championship fights involving as many Filipino fighters in a space of four months. Not even Mexico at the height of its domination of the division enjoyed such exposure. The Premier Boxing Champions of Al Haymon and Floyd Mayweather Jr tandem through Showtime has released the schedule of fights involving Casimero and Donaire while Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotion has confirmed the Inoue-Dasmariñas bout, conferring such bouts a thick veil of officiality---and certainty. The Gaballo-Rodriguez rematch has a life of its own and the fact that the winner will become mandatory to the winner of the Oubaali-Donaire setto imbues it a sense of importance and urgency of its own. Needless to say, due to the quality of the fighters involved, these are mostly marquee bouts worthy of pay oer view or DAZN paid streaming with the least of hype. The rise of Naoya Inoue is the biggest single factor the bantamweight has returned as cynosure of attention by boxing fans almost worldwide. But there is no denying that Casimero and Donaire are integral parts of the renewed interest in the 118 lbs class rivaling those of the super flyweights, the lightweights and the middleweights. Donaire reinvented himself and led the surprising Pinoy surge in the bantamweights by winning the WBA belt in an upset TKO of then highly regarded and pre fight odds pick Briton Ryan Burnett in late 2018. He then followed it up with a successful defense knocking out American Stephon Young in mid 2019 before facing Inoue in the WBSS finals in Saitama, Japan in November 2019. He came very close to stopping Inoue faltering only in the late rounds in losing a competitive decision, dropping his WBA super belt. It was a magnificent defeat and the WBC was so impressed that it picked Donaire to be Oubaali's mandatory for the WBC title in 2020. But the Covid-19 pandemic hit and everything went haywire until the bout was resurrected recently. At about the same time of Donaire's gallant stand versus Inoue, Casimero pleasantly surprised Pinoy fans once again by yanking the WBO crown from the head of the tall pre fight fave South African Zolani Tete by third round knockout in Birmungham UK. Bob Arum was so impressed by Casimero's performance, his third straight KO win since coming back, that he installed Johnriel as Inoue's foe in the Japanese grand championship fight debut in the USA in March 2020. But the pandemic torpedoed that fight too and later Arum as well as Inoue had a second thought about fighting Casimero, perhaps deeming him too risky. And so the Inoue-Casimero fight fell off. Inoue opted to defend against Australia's Jason Moloney who ironically passed up on his WBO mandatory against Casimero. Inoue easily disposed off Moloney. Meanwhile, Casimero opted to defend against erstwhile unbeaten Ghanaian Duke Micah in September, handily beating Micah by fourth round knockout. Gaballo capped the year by scoring a controversial split decision victory over an obviously knockout-averse Emmanuel Rodriguez in their fight for the WBC interim bantamweight title vice suspected Covid positives Oubaali and Donaire. A rematch of the fight was later ordered by the WBC on complaint of Rodriguez camp. It could be recalled that Rodriguez was knocked out early by Inoue in their WBSS semi finals match in mid 2019, losing his IBF title and the once proud Puerto Rican seemed have not yet recovered from that loss. Will the Pinoy bantamweight bubble hold, or burst? Depends largely on Donaire and Casimero winning their fights. But it will be a huge upset if Dasmariñas would pull off a win over Inoue. From where I sit, the Gaballo-Rodriguez is 50-50. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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