Filipino boxer Casimero loses WBO interim title to Mexican foe

Johnriel Casimero suffered his first career loss Sunday, failing to sustain a fast start and fading in the end of a split decision fight against Ramon Garcia Hirales. The Filipino pug thus yielded his interim World Boxing Organization (WBO) light flyweight crown in Sinaloa, Mexico. The 20-year old pride of Mandaue, Cebu, controlled the match early on and took the fight to his 27-year old opponent from California Sur, Mexico. But fatigue eventually caught up with Casimero, enabling Hirales to turn the tide around. The Mexican slugger proved to be the more solid fighter in the latter rounds all the way to scoring a split decision win. Two of the judges saw the fight for Hirales, 115-113, while the other one scored it in favor of the Filipino, 115-113. The fight was shown over GMA-7 on a delayed basis. The setback was the first in 15 career fights for Casimero (14-1), whose record also included eight knockouts. He was making the first defense of the interim WBO 108-pound title belt he won with an 11th round technical knockout of Colombian Cesar Canchila last December in Nicaragua. Hirales raised his record to 13-1-1 with eight KOs as well. He is the brother of former International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimum weight champion Raul `Rayito’ Garcia. A second Filipino in Federico Catubay also suffered a stinging loss following a unanimous decision against young super flyweight prospect Rodrigo Guerrero. Scores were 116-112, 115-113 and 117-111. The fight was a title eliminator for the right to meet International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight champion Luis Alberto Lazarte of Argentina. Catubay, 30, fell to 25-17, with 13 KOs, while Guerrero improved to 13-2-1, with nine KOs. The Filipino previously lost in a similar IBF title eliminator bout, dropping a 12-round unanimous decision against Juan Alberto Roxas at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues last November as part of the undercard of that fateful fight Z Gorres had against Colombian Luis Melendez. On the other hand, the win allowed Guerrero to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss against reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) super-flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan last March. - RCJ, GMANews.TV