Nonito Donaire Jr. claims unification bout with John Riel Casimero is off

Nonito Donaire regained the WBC bantamweight title with a four-round KO of Nordine Oubaali 10 years after winning it with a second-round TKO of Fernando Montiel. Photo by Jhay Oh Otamias

Jun

by Ryan Songalia |

The on-and-off again bantamweight unification bout with Nonito Donaire Jr. and John Riel Casimero appears to be off again after Donaire announced on Twitter that he’s pulling out of the fight due to personal conflicts with the Casimero camp.

Donaire (41-6, 27 knockouts) cited the Casimero camp’s alleged disrespect of Donaire’s wife and manager/trainer Rachel for pulling out of the fight in a post on Tuesday evening. Donaire said that a man had made a lewd remark about his wife, though the post did not specify who had made the comment.

“I STAND against the disrespect and ABUSE of women and children physically, mentally and emotionally. AND I STAND against misogynistic culture,” said Donaire, the WBC titleholder.

The bout, which was scheduled for August 14, was to be the highest profile bout between two Filipino fighters in the sport’s. It came together after Casimero (30-4, 21 KOs) of Ormoc City, Philippines had switched opponents from former bantamweight titleholder Guillermo Rigondeaux to unify his WBO belt with the Filipino American from San Leandro, Calif. by way of Talibon, Philippines.

Issues arose shortly after the fight was surprisingly announced on June 19. Donaire made an ultimatum to the Casimero camp that both fighters be tested randomly by VADA leading up to the fight, and then Donaire withdrew from the fight after the paperwork proving Casimero had enrolled had not come in by the deadline he had set.

VADA announced that both had enrolled by June 26.

“We cancelled this fight when they delayed turning in the VADA paperwork for 5 days. We have proof that the opposing side was neither honest nor forthcoming in providing the proper information to begin VADA drug testing,” claimed Donaire.

“And as much as I want to knock him out, I’m going to take the high road and instead of highlighting his misbehaviors, I’m not going to give his example the stage or the payday that comes with it.”

Sean Gibbons, President of MP Promotions, which represents Casimero, tells The Ring that his side and the Donaire camp [are trying to work [through] some issues.”‘

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES.