The bottom appears to have completely fallen out for John Riel Casimero.
Kyonosuke Kameda returned to the win column with a 10-round, unanimous decision victory over the former three-division titlist. The scores were 99-92, 98-92 and 97-93 for Kameda at the end of a dreadfully dull affair on Saturday in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Casimero, 34-5-1 (23 KOs), ended a suspension-induced ring absence of more than a year in a fight that took place just over the featherweight limit. The 36-year-old Filipino previously held belts at 108lbs, 112lbs and 118lbs, but has lacked the necessary discipline to advance his career in recent years.
From bad habits come fights well above his optimal weight. Casimero blew weight in a first-round knockout of Saul Sanchez in October 2024 in Tokyo, Japan, an infraction that resulted in a one-year suspension issued by the Japanese Boxing Commission.
Despite the lengthy gap between fights, Casimero jumped out to a fast start. His method of attack was largely ineffective aggression, though aided by Kameda’s defense-first approach – Kameda seemed weary of Casimero’s power.
The momentum shifted in the third round, when Kameda began to let his hands go and land in combination. Casimero’s reckless, come-forward style would soon serve as a detriment, because he failed to make any adjustments over the course of the contest.
Kameda waded out Casimero’s wild offense and connected with counter left hooks. The 27-year-old Osaka native shifted from his counter-punching mode and took the lead during most exchanges throughout the second half of the contest.
Casimero enjoyed sporadic success during the last few rounds, though only when Kameda slowed his offense in an effort to rest. Kameda picked up the pace in the ninth and 10th rounds to seal his upset victory, with Casimero forced to fight through a stream of blood while also seeking to fend off father time.
Kameda, 16-5-2 (9 KOs) – the younger cousin of former three-division titlist Koki Kameda, the promoter for this event – snapped a two-fight losing streak.
His first career fight outside of Japan came on February 22, but ended in a seventh-round knockout defeat by the former two-division titlist Luis Nery in Tijuana, Mexico. Incidentally, Nery will face Sathaporn Saart on Sunday atop the second leg of Kameda Promotions’ back-to-back events in Bishkek.
Kameda opted to remain at the top level despite the setback to the Mexican southpaw. He offered a credible showing in a majority decision defeat by Alan David Picasso, who next challenges undisputed 122lbs champion Naoya Inoue on December 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in July.
Saturday’s win for Kameda was his first since a first-round knockout of Angelo Beltran in December in Shizuoka, Japan. He was unbeaten in nine starts prior to the Nery fight.
Meanwhile, the loss is the first for Casimero since September 2017. His 10-fight winning streak included a knockout win over Zolani Tete to claim the WBO 118lbs title in November 2019. Casimero defended the belt twice. His reign ended during fight week of his eventually canceled title defense against Paul Butler in Liverpool, England in April 2022. Casimero was removed from the event due to violating the British Boxing Board of Control’s ban on sauna use for rapid weight-cutting purposes.
The fallout to that came just four months after he withdrew from a previously scheduled mandatory title defense against Butler just before their weigh-in ahead of a fight in Dubai in December 2021. Casimero was hospitalized, though it was theorized at the time that he was at risk of badly blowing weight. His career has never fully recovered, as shown in his undisciplined defeat on Saturday.
In that vein, the promotion lost its previously scheduled co-feature.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov blew a golden opportunity to position himself for a major title after badly missing weight for his clash with Rene Calixto. Their scheduled IBF flyweight title eliminator attempted to move forward, even after Uzbekistan’s Dusmatov, 7-0 (5 KOs), weighed 115lbs – three pounds above the divisional limit.
Mexico’s Calixto, 23-1-1 (9 KOs) – a two-time IBF 115lbs title challenger – was 111.75lbs and ready to fight on Saturday, even with the weight discrepancy. However, it was decided just before the ring walks (or at least not revealed until then) that Dusmatov was not medically fit to move forward with the contest.
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.
