John Riel Casimero vs Yukinori Oguni Preview October 12th, 2023
Former junior flyweight, flyweight and bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero of the Philippines travels to the Ariake Arena in Tokyo this Thursday October 12th to take on former IBF super bantamweight champion Yukinori Oguni of Japan. The 10-round junior featherweight bout can be seen live in most nations on FITE TV with the card starting at 3am ET. Casimero last fought in May when he beat Fillipus Nghitumbwa of Namibia for the WBO Global Super Bantamweight Title. Oguni last saw action in May, 2022 when he battled to a four-round technical draw with Keita Kurihara.
Casimero vs Oguni Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Yukinori Oguni +400
- John Riel Casimero -600
My Pick
The 34-year-old Casimero climbs into the ring with a mark of 33-4 with 22 Ko’s and has boxed 248 rounds since turning pro in 2007. He’s gone 9-2 in world title fights with 6 Ko’s and is 6-3 with 4 Ko’s against former, current, and future world champions as he has beaten Guillermo Rigondeaux, Zolani Tete, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Pedro Guevara, Amnat Ruenroeng and Charlie Edwards and was defeated by Ramon Garcia Hirales, Moruti Mthalane and Amnat Ruenroeng with Mthalane being the only man to stop him, which he did in five rounds in 2011.
Casimero’s other pro loss came at the hands of Jonas Sultan by 12-round unanimous decision in 2017. He’s also captured several regional and minor titles as a pro including the Philippines Boxing Federation Flyweight Title and the WBO Asia Pacific, Interim WBO and Interim IBF World Light Flyweight Titles. The former world champion previously held the IBF Light Flyweight Title from July 2012 to May 2014 and defended it three times as well as the IBF Flyweight Title from May to December 2016 which he defended once.
Casimero stands 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 64-inch reach and has pretty good power in his hands as 66.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’s been stopped once himself, but has a pretty reliable chin. He’s a solid and underrated pro who isn’t really that well known outside of Asia but has gone 13-3 with 8 Ko’s when boxing outside of his homeland. He was supposed to unify the bantamweight title against Paul Butler a couple of years ago but made himself sick trying to make the weight and the proposed bout never came off, leading him to move up in weight.
The 35-year-old Oguni climbs into the ring with a mark of 21-2-2 with 8 Ko’s and has fought 187 rounds since turning pro in 2009. It’s obvious that Oguni doesn’t have heavy hands as just 38 per cent of his wins have come by the way of stoppage and has only one KO in his last five outings. He measures in at just over 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 69.5-inch reach which gives him a 3.5-inch edge in height over Casimero as well as 5.5-inches in reach.
Oguni won the IBF Super Bantamweight Crown in 2016 with a unanimous decision over Jonathan Guzman but lost it in his first defence 10 months later when he was stopped in the sixth round by fellow countryman Ryosuke Iwasa. His first pro defeat was also against a Japanese boxer as Shingo Wake halted him in the 10th round in 2013 to lose his OPBF Super Bantamweight Title. Along the way, Oguni has also captured the vacant Japanese Super Bantamweight Crown. The other draw on his record was a 10-round affair with Gakuya Furuhashi in 2015.
Prediction…
Oguni has been out of action for close to a year and a half and is facing a dangerous puncher in Casimero, who’s still a world-class boxer and is hoping to become a four-weight world champion in the future. He can be careless at times though and has paid for it by being dropped to the canvas in the past, but Oguni lacks power. I’m expecting Casimero to emerge with a victory here as he continues on his quest for another title shot.
A decent matchup with Casimero having the edge in power and a better chin.
Play Casimero -600 @ BetOnline.ag
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John Riel Casimero betting • Yukinori Oguni betting