By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The highly-awaited mega-fight between the two top-tier champion bantamweights will no longer come into fruition.
Originally slated on April 25, 2020, one of the most anticipated bantamweight clashes in the history of boxing between Philippines’ Johnriel Casimero and Naoya “Monster” Inoue of Japan was initially confirmed by Bob Arum and Top Rank Promotions but the COVID-19 pandemic made things difficult for the bout.
Due to the havoc caused by the pandemic, the fights were thrice postponed and re-scheduled but on the last two proposed bout time frame, it was Inoue who was not able to fly due to border restrictions implemented by Japan.
To make things easier, Manny Pacquiao (MP) Promotions and president Sean Gibbons proposed that they will be the ones who will fly to Japan and fight in a hostile crowd but the plan did not materialize.
With the numerous cancelations, Gibbons and MP Promotions even took the reins in the hopes that they will lure Inoue to take the fight because they feel that Top Rank Promotions isn’t doing enough to persuade the Japanese boxer.
Sensing that the fight was no longer feasible, Gibbons together with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) organized a new bout and found a new opponent for the Filipino sensation.
This September 26, Casimero will take on the undefeated fighter from Ghana, Duke Micah who holds an impressive record of 24-0 with 19 wins coming from knockout.
Casimero and his camp immediately accepted the offer to end their six months of waiting for a final bout in Las Vegas and to finally see the results of his training.
