June 27, 2015 John Riel Casimero fought Amnat Ruenroeng for the IBF World flyweight title Hua Mark Indoor Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand
Unbeaten IBF world flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng successfully defended his crown for the fourth time by defeating his Filipino challenger John Riel Casimero in an ugly affair on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand.
Though Amnat is not known to pack much power in his punches, the thirty-five-year-old managed to secure a knock down when he managed to catch Casimero with a powerfull right hand in the second round. On the third round, Amnat was baying for blood, puching powerfully from all sides. He nearly managed to secure a second Knock down in this round but unfortunately the referee ruled it out as a slip.
The bout was marred with excessive clinching by Ruenroeng, making the contest look like a professional wrestling match in many instances, prompting a point deduction from the champion in round 11.
These clinching did not make the fight less exciting, in fact, they made it even more exciting for the funs who could be heard asking for more from Amnat who was the crowds favorite.
Though the fight did not end in a knockout from Amnat as most of us were expecting, Ruenroeng’s roughhousing game plan was too much for the Filipino to overcome, winning the fight by unanimous decision after twelve rounds of boxing.
The win was well deserved. Even Amniats Filipino trainer said that, “Amnat fought the perfect fight,” The quote was during a post fight interview. The win improved Ruenroeng’s record to 16-0 with 5 knockouts while the Leyte native Casimero fell to 21-3 with 13 knockouts.
Casimero also displayed tremendous skill on the ring. Though he lost the fight, you could see that his footwork was well coordinated. His punches were right on point though not powerful enough to cause much trouble to Aminat as we saw him shaking his head to indicate that everything was ok each time he was punched to the body.
As a fighter, Casimero is great, he even looked to be the better fighter of the two in the few instances that he managed to control the fight. This shows that he is still a force to reckon on in the ring.
He promised his fans that he will bring home a world championship the next time he gets a shot at one. As a boxing analyst, am sure that this is not an empty promise from a guy who has lost a fight. He has the skill and the will power to do great things if he trains hard enough.
