South Africa’s Zolani ‘Last Born’ Tete is facing a must-win fight when he defends his WBO bantamweight belt against interim WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero from the Philippines at the Arena Birmingham in England on Saturday night.
Tete needs to win in order to go forward for an eagerly anticipated mega-buck fight against Japan’s WBA and IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
The 31-year-old Tete (28-3; 21), who fights from the southpaw stance, has been out of action since October 2018 due to an injured right shoulder only days before his fight with Nonito Donaire in the semifinal of the Word Boxing Super Series.
Before Tete, who hails from Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, can think of a unification match-up with Inonoue (19-0; 16), who is known as ‘The Monster’, he has to get past Casimero, 31, a former IBF light flyweight and flyweight champion who has been fighting as a pro since June 2007.
The only defeats on Casimero’s record came against Ramon Garcia Hirales on a 12-round split decision, South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane, who stopped him in the fifth round, Amnat Ruenroeng on points (he beat Ruenroeng on a fourth-round stoppage in a return fight) and Jonas Sultan (lost on points 12).
Since the loss to Sultan he has won four fights, all inside the distance.
Casimero is a strong fighter (59.38 percent knockout ratio) who has power in both hands and a good left hook.
However, he has a leaky defence at times which could be exploited by the hard hitting and much bigger Tete (64.74 percent knockout ratio), who is rated at No 2 by The Ring magazine.
This makes for an interesting match-up which should see Tete win on points over 12 rounds.
One of the betting sites has Tete at -300 and Casimero at +225.
The other organisation bantamweight champion is Nordine Oubaali from France who holds the WBC belt.
There are some good fights on the undercard with Sam Bowen defending his British junior lightweight title against Anthony Cacace and Lerrone Richards against Lennox Clarke in a clash for the vacant British super middleweight title.
