John Riel Casimero wants fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux while Naoya Inoue deals with mandatory

Never let it be said that John Riel Casimero lacks chutzpah. His promoter, Sean Gibbons, tells Lance Pugmire that his charge is “targeting” an early 2021 WBO title defense against Guillermo Rigondeaux while Naoya Inoue deals with IBF mandatory challenger Michael Dasmarinas. His trainer, Memo Heredia, revealed the negotiations to El Nuevo Herald last month and claimed they were going well.

Casimero (30-4, 21 KO) has never been one to shy away from a challenge; despite standing just 5’4” with a 64” reach, “Quadro Alas” has won titles all the way from 108 to 118 pounds. After destroying the highly dangerous and far taller Zolani Tete for the WBO bantamweight title in 2019, he geared up for a unification bout with Inoue, which sadly collapsed due to COVID. He’s since stayed busy with a beatdown of undefeated Duke Micah.

Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KO), 40, spent virtually his entire career at 122 before a disastrous super featherweight clash with Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2017. He sat out for a year afterwards before winning three straight, including a controversial stoppage of Julio Ceja and a February decision over Liborio Solis for the “world” version of Inoue’s WBA belt.

If anyone can force another quality fight out of Rigondeaux, it’s Casimero. I’m definitely down to see these tow lock horns.