Posted by John Riel Casimero retained the WBO bantamweight title after he stopped Duke Micah in the third round of their scheduled 12-round fight at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Casimero (30-4, 21 KOs), who won the WBO bantamweight title in November last year by knocking out South Africa’s Zolani Tete (28-4, 21 KOs) in the third round in Birmingham, England came into the fight as favorite.
Duke Micah (24-1, 19 KOs), who came into the fight as massive underdog started the fight brilliantly. After an evenly contested first round, Micah in the second round drilled Casimero with a straight right hand, but that didn’t bog the champion down, a left hook by Casimero knocked Micah to the canvas just before the halfway point of the second round.
Micah was hurt badly, but he answered Referee Steve Willis’ count. Casimero tried his best to finish off Micah, who somehow managed to survive his onslaught.
Micah went to the canvas again with 37 seconds to go in the second round, but it was the result of a slip, not one of Casimero’s punches.
Just 54 seconds into the third round, Casemiro pounced on Duke Micah and threw several punches, Duke couldn’t defend himself.
Referee Steve Willis who at the start of the third round warned Micah that he needed to show him something or he would quickly stop the bout stopped the bout after Casemiro landed series of vicious punches on Duke without reply.
The defeat was Micah’s (24-1, 19 KOs) first loss in his professional boxing career, whiles Casemiro (30-4, 21 KOs) improved his record and in the process defended his WBO bantamweight title for the first time.
The Filipino in the post fight interview praised Duke Micah and gave a breakdown on how he handed him first professional defeat.
“I worked hard and got the win tonight. In the first round I saw the body shot hurt him and thought I could get him out right away, but he’s a good boxer who was undefeated for a reason,” John Riel stated.
“The second round the uppercut hurt him, but Duke Micah works hard, he’s strong and has a good chin. I knew I was facing a good fighter, so I didn’t expect to knock him out so fast. He’s strong so I was prepared to go all 12 rounds.” he added.
Casemiro then called out Japanese Naoya Inoue, claiming that he is ducking him. He also reiterated his desire to face other contenders if a with the Japanese doesn’t materialized.
“I’m the real monster. Naoya Inoue is scared of me. You’re next. I would have knocked out anyone today,” Casimero said. “If Inoue doesn’t fight me, then I’ll fight Guillermo Rigondeaux, Luis Nery, or any of the top fighters.”
Watch how Casemiro knocked Duke out:
Ghanaian boxer Duke Micah knocked out in Round 3 by Filipino John Riel Casimero. pic.twitter.com/kLmlvnxhJy
— Andydotcom_gh (@Andydotcom_gh) September 27, 2020