Casimero Withdrew from his Defense against Butler due to Gastritis

By Carlos Costa

Unfortunately, popular Pinoy WBO Bantamweight World Champion “Quadro Alas” Johnriel Casimero of Ormoc, Leyte, was forced to withdraw from his mandatory title defense against Englishman 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧Paul Butler due to a case of gastritis, which did not allow the Leyteño to leave his room to attend the official weigh-in.

Casimero’s fight against Butler was scheduled to be the main event today, Saturday, at the plush Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates.

Paul Butler – a former IBF bantamweight champion – will remain on the show, now facing dangerous world-ranked Ghana fighter 🇬🇭 Joseph Agbeko (38-5, 28 KO’s).

Both fighters, Butler and Agbeko, made weight, although it is unclear if a WBO title will be at stake for their fight or not.

The WBO Is expected to make an official decision on whether Casimero (31-4, 21 KO’s) will be stripped of his world title for failing to fulfill his mandatory title defense… or not. Hopefully not.

Butler and Agbeko are ranked # 1 and # 8 in the WBO bantamweight world rankings.

Due to Casimero’s decidedly inconvenient situation, now 🇬🇧 Sunny Edwards’ IBF-112 defence against 🇵🇭 Jayson Mama becomes the show’s main event.

Slick veteran, former 4-division world champion Donnie Nietes of Bacolod will also see action in the Dubai show, defending his WBO-115 International Strap against Nolbelto Jiménez of the Dominican Republic.

Nietes and Mama had no problem making weight in Dubai.

The show from Dubai can be watched late night Saturday (Dec 11) around 11:59 PM (Phils Time) on Sky Cable PPV. Better check with your cable operator.

Get well Johnriel!

Best of luck in their fights to Nietes and Mama!

The author Carlos Costa can be reached at carlos@philboxing.com.