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Johnriel Casimero, Ryo Akaho make weight for South Korea clash

Fighters Network
02
Dec

Former three-division titleholder Johnriel Casimero and fellow veteran Ryo Akaho are clear to fight after making weight for their 10-round junior featherweight bout on Saturday in Incheon, South Korea.

Casimero weighed in at 121.2 pounds; Akaho was 121.7 pounds.

Casimero (31-4, 21 KOs) was elevated from interim to full IBF junior flyweight titleholder status in 2012 and defended the belt four times before stepping up to flyweight in 2015. His first shot at a 112-pound title, against Amnat Ruenroeng, was unsuccessful, but he knocked out the Thai fighter in the rematch and then defended his IBF belt once before vacating the title.

Casimero won the WBO bantamweight title with a third-round knockout of Zolani Tete in November 2019 and defended it twice against Duke Micah and Guillermo Rigondeaux. He was set to do it again with Paul Butler, but a violation of British Boxing Board of Control rules related to sauna use resulted in the fight being called off and theĀ WBO stripping Casimero of his belt. Butler still holds the title and will be putting in on the line against division champ Naoya Inoue in less than two weeks.



Akaho (39-2-2, 26 KOs) lost a bantamweight title bid against Panya Uthok in 2015 and has since been fighting at 122 pounds in his home country of Japan.

For co-featured bout, former two-division titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez (69-11-1, 56 KOs) and Japanese stalwart Takuya Watanabe (38-11-1, 22 KOs) both made weight for their junior lightweight bout.

Photos by Naoki Fukuda.

 

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