Filipino Light Flyweight John Riel Casimero (18-2, 10) looks to make the third defense of his IBF title this weekend in one of a number of "forgotten" bouts, though one that looks like it has the potential to be the fight of the weekend.
Although relatively ignored by the boxing public Casimero is one of the true "road warriors" of boxing. He has been fighting throughout Latin America in recent contests and sadly this has prevented many Filipino fans from actually following one of their few active world champions, despite impressive victories in Panama, Argentina, Mexico and Nicaragua over his past few fights.
This time it's a Latin American traveling to fight Casimero as highly ranked Mexican fighter Felipe Salguero (18-4-1, 13) returns to the Philippines for his second world title fight, following a close 2012 loss to Donnie Neites in a WBO title title contest.
Although Salguero was taking a huge step up when he faced Neites last he gave a stirring performance using controlled aggression, heavy hands and a solid work rate to push the talented Neites very close. It was supposed to be an easy defense for Neites but Salguero proved to be a genuine challenge who adapted well to fighting on foreign soil for the first time.
Unfortunately following his loss to Neites, Salguero was stopped by Luis Alberto Rios a man who was subsequently outboxed by Casimero. Prior to being stopped by Rios however he had dropped the Panamanian and so obviously does have the power to hurt good fighters. Saying that however Casimero is tough and only Moruti Mthalane, the IBF Flyweight champion, has stopped him so far.
The match up here is one that sees a solid, world ranked pressure fighter up against a skilled boxer. Usually these match ups depend a lot on on the levels of the two men, not just of their fighting ability but also their ability to adapt to what the other man does. Here I think Casimero is the more versatile, he can box, he can fight and whilst he's not elite at any particular thing he's also not got a lot of clear weaknesses. Salguero on the other hand is slightly crude and can be out boxed.
This will be tough, competitive and possibly a very good fight, however I feel that Casimero will manage to take the decision, albeit a close one.
Prediction-Casimero UD12 (close)
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