Casimero vs Butler rescheduled for April 23

The John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler Bantamweight weight fight was rescheduled for April 23 in Liverpool according to the WBO. 

So, this is a good development for Casimero. I thought that he will continue to fight against YouTubers. 

According to the WBO, "Casimero has not discharged a mandatory title defense since winning the title against Zolani Tete."

Casimero-Butler was scheduled in Dubai but Casimero pulled out of the fight due to gastritis. There's report saying that he had weight issues at that time. His camp denied about it and showed the cause of why he's not able to depend his title. 

Then few weeks after the Dubai card, I was surprised when Casimero was featured in bout against a YouTuber. I was wondering if how that one was even possible. Anyway, below is the Casimero vs Labrador fight.

Who's next for Mark Magsayo?

Mark Magsayo defeated Garry Russel Jr. via majority decision upset for their featherweight showdown in Atlantic City on Saturday. The 26 years old Filipino rising star remains undefeated and said he's "willing to fight anybody" as he's now the champion.

With that being said by Magsayo (24-0-0, 16 KOs) let's take a look at his possible next opponents. 

One of the potential opponents for his next fight would be against another undefeated fighter---Rey Vargas. The WBC is set to order for this fight. It seemed that Magsayo would not have a chance to get an optional fight as he contracted the obligations of the previous champion (Russel Jr.), who had already been notified to face Vargas as explained by the WBC. So, it is most certainly that Vargas would be next.

Meanwhile, if Magsayo had to choose as to whom he will fight next, he said that he wanted to fight Leo Santa Cruz and Luis Nery. 

"I will fight anyone but in my division. I would like to fight Leo Santa and Luis Nery," Magsayo said. "

So there you go, those are the potential next opponents for Mark Magsayo. We have Vargas, Santa Cruz and Nery. But we don't know the preference of the promoters. That still remains to be seen.

As a boxing fan, If I were to choose, I would choose the potential opponents of Mark Magsayo from the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) featherweight rankings. 

Below is the current TBRB featherweight rankings as of this writing:

As you can see above, Santa Cruz and Nery are not listed. So, I like to see Magsayo fight either Mauricio Lara, ranked no. 1 or Emmanuel Navarette, ranked no. 2. If I'm not mistaken, the TBRB rules will crown a champion if the top three ranked fighters in a particular division will fight. So, Magsayo has the chance to be crowned as the new lineal featherweight champion of the world. A throne abdicated by no less than his "idol" and promoter Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.

You, as a boxing fan, who do you want Magsayo to fight next?

Bornea vs Obbadi Preview

 

Undefeated Filipino boxing prospect Jade Bornea will be put to a test as he faces Italy's Mohammed Obbadi for the Junior Bantamweight division title eliminator in Mexico on Friday.

Bornea (16-0-0, 10 KOs) yet to be tested, but I believed that this fighter from General Santos City was so much underrated. Let's discuss more about that later. Although Bornea and Obbadi were currently not ranked by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) at the 115-pound division, this fight was sanctioned as a title eliminator for Jerwin Ancajas IBF Junior Bantamweight title. 

Forgive me if I keep on referring to the rankings of TBRB. Why? Because for me, this is a solid and reliable ranking. Take a look at TBRB's current Junior Bantamweight rankings.

Tell me in the comments below if the above rankings were a piece of shit.

Sitting at the top of the Junior Bantamweight division is Juan Francisco Estrada. The top four contenders includes, Rungvisai, Gonzalez, Ioka, Ancajas. Donnie Nietes was ranked number 9 and Kosie Tanaka at number 10.

Why I considered Bornea so much underrated? As you can see at the above rankings, it is only Bornea who fought and defeated a ranked fighter. He defeated ranked number 10 Kosie Tanaka by points in the 2013 Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championship. If you look at the resume of Ancajas, he has not yet fought any of the above ranked fighters.

Obbadi (22-1-0, 13 KOs) is the experienced fighter coming into the fight. As far as my readings is concerned, it seemed that this fight will be his first outside Italy. He fought for a Flyweight world title once but was defeated by Cristofer Rosales.

What's at stake?

Both men has the chance to showcase their talent and skills in the international stage. The outcome of this fight will set the tone of their respective careers.

“With Probellum and Sanman Boxing, I look forward to my upcoming IBF World Title Eliminator as just the start, with my ultimate goal to win the world title in 2022,” said Bornea.

The best man of this fight will have the chance to fight Ancajas' IBF title. Although a fight with Ancajas' is what Bornea less keen to do if he wins against Obaddi to avoid an all-Filipino clash, but he's ready to go if it is to be decided.

Obbadi on the other hand wanted to be back at championship mix as he failed to do it once at the Flyweight division.

Prediction

By looking at the physical measurements of both men, Obaddi has the height and reach advantage who stands at 5'6" and has 5cm reach advantage. The conventional wisdom is that smaller fighter needs to close in and manage the gap, and the taller fighter has to use those height and reach by keeping the distance.

By looking at the resume of both men, obviously Obbadi has the experience. In the power category, it tells us that Bornea has more pop on his fists having a higher KO percentage.

Well, I think Bornea will not have so much problem bringing the rains of fire to Obbadi as this is his fighting style. Monikered as the hurricane, I think Bornea will bring the fight to Obbadi and it seemed to me that Obaddi instead of keeping the distance would trade rains of fire power with fire to tamed the hurricane. With this happening, I see Bornea's power would dominate Obbadi. Bornea wins by TKO in Round 7 or less with body punch.

Ortiz vs Martin: Review

Luis Ortiz was down twice but able to get back up on both instances and knockout Charles Martin in Round 6. Ortiz was down once in Round 1 and then again in Round 4. 

Ortiz (33-2-0, 28 KOs) has been inactive for more than one year. His last fight was in November 2020. He looked a tad slower in this fight against a much younger Martin. Ortiz was 42 years old coming into this fight. The first knockdown was a right hand from Martin as Ortiz tries to get in. Martin caught him and landed on the side of the head of Ortiz. The second knockdown was more of a stiff jab as both men came forward. I was surprised to see Ortiz go down from that punch. It is rare to see someone goes down from a jab.

With two knockdowns early in the fight, Martin's (28-3-1, 25 KOs) confidence was high. He continued to push Ortiz backwards, and he stood his ground. After he scored a knockdown in Round 4, Martin raised his hand not in celebration though, but It seemed to me that he was very confident that it is his night. Martin was confident but still very focused on the fight. He did not show any signs of overconfidence, his eyes were laser focus on the job. He can not afford to blink with two eyes as he knows very well that Ortiz still packed tremendous power on both hands. 

Obviously behind the scorecards, Ortiz's corner advised him to throw more jabs and don't go for the home-run. His corner wanted Ortiz to focus more on his jab maybe to take time to recover from those two knockdowns. Ortiz knees buckled on those knockdown. It looked like age is catching him. He can take the punch but his legs betrayed him. He was not hurt on both knockdowns. He got up with a smile on his face on both instance. 

At ring side, Ortiz's family was emotional at what they were watching so far. His daughter was in tears watching his father went a trip to the canvas twice already. All these, turned around later on.

In Round 6, Ortiz caught Martin with a left hand to the head that stuns and buckles Martin's legs. Martin was in a very dangerous situation as he looked disoriented. His guard were down and his still on his feet. Ortiz sensing the opportunity jumped right on and swarmed Martin with shots after shots. Martin's left hand surprisingly got entangled between the top rope and next rope below as he went down. The referee helped him to untangled his hand. 

The precious seconds bought to remove his hand was not enough to recover from the barrage of punches Ortiz unleashed. The referee let the fight continue. Ortiz obviously smelled blood, blitzed Martin and Martin went down for the second time. The referee took the count. Martin was able to get back up but obviously on shaky legs. The referee had seen enough and waved the fight. The time of the stoppage 1:37 remaining in Round 6.

Martin protested the stoppage but for me it was the right call to save Martin from unnecessary damage.

DOWN GOES MARTIN! 🤯

Order #OrtizMartin NOW: https://t.co/3Zu1Q7c92G pic.twitter.com/yTduib9F9u

— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) January 2, 2022