In what was predicted to be an all action fight, Filipino two-division world boxing champion John Riel Casimero South African champion Zolani Tete to capture the WBO bantamweight title on Saturday night in Birmingham, England love on ESPN+ and BT Sport.
Heading into the fight Tete (28-4, 21 KOs) was the favorite and considered the next in line to challenge unified bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
Casimero (29-4, 20 KOs) who is promoted by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions promised he would put on a worthy performance that would make his promoter proud and channeled Pacquiao as his motivation to dethrone Tete.
The bout started off with Tete using his long reach and technical boxing to measure and time the shorter more aggressive Casimero. The South African was winning the first rounds but it was the third round that saw the Filipino shine.
Casimero who said beforehand that he would go for the knockout, delivered on his promise when he landed hard right hands to Tete that dropped and hurt him bad.
Tete tried to get up on wobbly legs, he was given multiple chances by the ref but Casimero was relentless, and looked like a young Manny Pacquiao throwing punches until his opponent could no longer take it.
Casimero was attacking and attacking until the referee waved the fight off at 2:14 of the third round.
The WBO bantamweight champion of the world Johnriel Casimero wants to fight “The Monster” Naoya Inoue to unify the bantamweight world titles.
Zolani Tete vs. John Riel Casimero Full Fight Replay
Video upload by BT Sport Boxing
