Sean Gibbons, the head of Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, told Yahoo Sports that WBO bantamweight champion John Reil Casimero made a big impression when he easily put away unbeaten challenger Duke Micah on Saturday in Uncasville, Connecticut, as part of the Showtime pay-per-view card headlined by the Charlo brothers.
Earlier this year, Casimero was scheduled to face WBA, IBF champion Naoya Inoue in a high stakes unification.
The deal never came together once the bout was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Inoue is scheduled to defend his belt on October 31 against Jason Moloney at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Casimero has serious doubts that Inoue actually wants to face him.
“I’m the real monster,” Casimero said . “Naoya Inoue is scared of me. He’s next. I would have knocked out anyone today. If Inoue doesn’t fight me, then I’ll fight Guillermo Rigondeaux, Luis Nery, or any of the top fighters."
According to Gibbons, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum was unwilling to pay Casimero the proper funds to fight Inoue in a unification.
“I told him what John Riel was looking for and he said that John Riel wanted more money to fight Inoue than he’d made in his whole career,” Gibbons said. “So what, Bob Arum is counting Casimero’s money now? Is that the fight to make? He’s paid all of these other guys crazy money, but he’s worried about what Casimero makes?
“It’s OK, because John Riel opened a lot of eyes with his performance. [Showtime’s] Stephen Espinoza is interested in working with him again. He has options so if Bob wants to run scared and try to pretend money is the issue — which it is not — it’s fine because it’s not like that’s our only path.”
