John Riel Casimero had it much easier in the ring than on the scales.

The former three-division champion salvaged a near-disastrous weekend with a first-round knockout of Saul Sanchez. Casimero scored two knockdowns before forcing a finish at 2:41 in Saturday’s opening round at the Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama, Japan.

Sedate concerns were expressed about how the main event would proceed after Casimero made the scales twice. At the official weigh-in ceremony on Saturday, Casimero initially weighed more than two pounds more than his contracted limit of 122 pounds. Only after one last attempt did he manage to get down to 123 ¼ pounds.

Sanchez’s team conditionally agreed to continue the fight. Casimero had to attend two further weigh-ins on the day of the fight – once in the morning and again after arriving at the fight venue. Each time, the visiting Filipino confirmed that the entire show went according to plan.

From there there was one-way traffic.

Casimero injured Sanchez with the first punch he landed in the fight. Sanchez was in trouble and was forced to touch the canvas with his gloves within the first 20 seconds of the fight. Referee Yuji Fukuchi rightly ruled this sequence a knockdown and ordered a mandatory count of eight.

Sanchez unsuccessfully tried to counterattack and landed a left hook midway through the round. This only enraged Casimero, who came roaring back. He missed with a left hook, but managed to counterattack to the right. Casimero made Sanchez pay with another left hook and knocked the California native onto his back.

By some miracle, Sanchez recovered in time and defeated the count. Casimero was adamant about shutting down the program. Every punch was delivered with the intention of knocking out. The last right hand caused Sanchez to stagger and the referee intervened.

Casimero (34-4-1, 23 knockouts) is currently undefeated in his last 15 starts. However, the run also includes a draw in his previous fight and missing his WBO 118-pound weight in England after failing to follow weight management rules during fight week.

Sanchez (21-4, 12 KO) is currently 3-3 in his last six fights and is 1-2 on the year. He opened 2024 with a majority fight-of-the-year loss to then-WBO bantamweight champion Jason Moloney. Sanchez bounced back with an eight-round decision over Arthur Villanueva in July, also at bantamweight. His weight gain took a disastrous turn.

Casimero already held major titles at junior flyweight, flyweight and bantamweight.

At junior featherweight, he will need to show more commitment before he can prove he can fight for the crown. Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KO) is the champion of The Ring and holds all four major titles at the weight. The two were supposed to meet in April 2020 in a fight to unify the three bantamweight belts, but the pandemic thwarted these plans.

There is loose talk of the fight returning to the schedule in 2025 if Inoue stays at 122 pounds.

The massive question surrounding Casimero is whether any promoter is willing to take a chance on the troubled 35-year-old. Former 130-pound champion Masayuki Ito brought Casimero on board with his TB Promotions team, but he was discouraged by the events leading up to this weekend’s fight. Inoue’s team has previously expressed interest in revisiting the fight, but they also demand the utmost professionalism during its events.

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Dmitry Bivol wants to operate more movement and counter-punching in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev, as he felt he didn’t operate enough last Saturday night following his 12-round majority decision loss.

Many fans believed that Bivol (23-1, 12 KO) used too much movement and ultimately lost the fight; he did not stop long enough to land punches from rounds 8 to 12. Bivol seemed tired of constantly moving, which made him effortless pickings for Beterbiev in the final five rounds.

Bivol under the influence of Sugar Ray

Dmitry Bivol says he watched some of Sugar Ray Leonard’s elderly fights before the Beterbiev fight. He recalls watching Leonard fight Marvin Hagler, and Ray fought the full 12 rounds. He would stop to throw combos before moving again.

What Bivol fails to note is that many boxing fans who watched the Leonard-Hagler fight felt that Hagler was robbed by the referees because he was taking bigger shots and Leonard was simply cleaning his shoes with quick, low-power combinations.

Using Leonard’s fight with Hagler as a role model for fighting Beterbiev in this era was a mistake. Bivol lacks Leonardo’s popularity to receive a gift decision against Beterbiev, as many thought would happen with Hagler.

“I want to improve my movement. I didn’t move enough. I need to move more and operate more counterattacks. I just need to add more,” said Dmitry Bivol Fighting Hub TV about what he needs to do to improve his game in the rematch with Artur Beterbiev. “The tactic was not just to stand in front of Beterbiev. Move like Ray Leonard.”

If Bivol is going to emulate Leonard’s approach to fighting, he should focus on some of the fights where he threw more punches and fought with more aggression. He’s not rapid enough to fight like Leonard did in his prime. Bivol would have been better off using early Oscar De La Hoya as someone he could emulate in his rematch with Beterbiev. De La Hoya started his career quickly. He was an offensive player, he scored many knockouts.

“He’s in good shape. He tried to beat the last rounds. This is what I don’t like. I didn’t do those three rounds perfectly,” Bivol said of how he didn’t put his hands down in rounds 10, 11 and 12.

“They told me, ‘You should move. You should throw the jab like you did before. Don’t stand in front of him. Don’t be a constant target,” Bivol said of what the corner told him before the 12th round.

In retrospect, Bivol went too far in the 12th round and gave it to Beterbiev. With the fight hanging in the balance, Bivol should have fought with more aggression.

“Sometimes I felt like I could do it, but I did [cautious]Bivol said. “My plan was to exercise a lot because I was watching a lot [Sugar] Ray Leonard’s fights before this fight. Leonard-Hagler. Leonard was on the move in all 12 rounds.

“He would stop, do combinations and then move again. He was not on Hagler’s side. If he got up and fought Hagler, it wouldn’t make sense. You can’t fight a guy who is stronger than you.

“We have to agree with Beterbiev that he is the strongest lightweight heavyweight fighter, but that doesn’t mean he is the best,” Bivol said.

Beterbiev beat Bivol, which should mean he’s the “best” in the league. Bivol saying that Beterbiev is not the best in the lightweight heavyweight division suggests that he either thinks he is even better or thinks someone else in the fighting category is. Bivol did a good job of remaining humble after the loss, but the above comment about Beterbiev being less than stellar suggests he hasn’t fully accepted his loss.

Albert Mora on Friday night at Domo del CODE in Garcia’s hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico, he scored a one-punch knockout over Benito Garcia. Mora improves his record to 12-0, 9 by knockout.

From the opening bell, Mora effectively defeated Garcia, using the distance with regular land combinations. Garcia tried to cut off the ring but wasn’t consistent enough as Mora effectively moved in and out of striking range.

Mora was more aggressive and initiated exchanges in the third round, putting Garcia on the defensive with precise punches and combinations. During an exchange in round four, Mora landed a right-left combination to the body that sent Garcia to the canvas. Garcia tried to get up, wincing in pain, as he was given 2:26.

Including Friday’s victory over Garcia, Mora, who lives in Mexico City and splits training time there and in the United States, has stopped five of his last six opponents and has a regional title under his belt.

The 26-year-old stopped Raul Galaviz Hernandez in the fifth round of his previous fight on June 14. Three months before his victory over Galaviz, Mora defeated the once defeated Fernando Romero Hilario by unanimous decision.

Mora signed a contract with BXSTRS, which promotes Friday’s card. He is trained by Jay Najar, who also trains lightweight fighter William Zepeda.

Garcia drops to 17-9-3, 5 KOs. On July 27 in Guadalajara, he won by knockout against journeyman Jesus Garcia Frutos.

The 24-year-old has lost four of his last six fights.

Junior welterweight frontier Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela of Guadalajara defeated Jesus Lopez by unanimous decision. The scores were 79-72, 79-72 and 78-73 for Gollaz, who improved to 30-3-1, 17 KOs.

Gollaz dominated most of the fight, defeating an aggressive Lopez midway through the eighth round. Despite the fall, Lopez suffered no injuries and continued to stay in the pocket, exchanging combinations until the final bell.

The 29-year-old has now won his last five fights since a narrow decision loss to Montana Love in May 2022.

Lopez, who lives in Costa Rica, Mexico, has a record of 16-15-3, 4 KOs. Before the Gollaz fight, he was undefeated in his 11 previous fights.

In the clash of flyweight fighters residing in Tijuana, Jose Russell improved his balance to 16-0, 10 KO, defeating Arnulfo Salvador (16-7-1, 9 KO) by unanimous decision. The scores for Russell were 78-73, 78-73 and 79-75.

Salvador was deducted a point in round eight for a headbutt, for which he had been warned in previous rounds.

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