Casimero defends IBF light flyweight crown with close victory over Guevara in Mexico

Johnriel Casimero of the Philippines showed grit and poise down the stretch to retain his IBF world junior flyweight title with a split-decision  win against Mexican challenger Pedro Guevara  at the Mazatlan Convention Center  in Sinoloa, Mexico.

Fighting in front of a hostile crowd, Casimero downed Guevara twice but the Mexican survived and managed to finish the bout.

The judges scored it 114-113 (Levi Martinez and Ruben Garcia) for Casimero and 116-111 (Matthew Podgorski ) for Guevara.

With the win, Casimero improved to 17W-2L (10 KOs) and successfully defended his title.

Casimero first downed his foe with a crisp uppercut in the opening round. But the tough Mexican, who suffered his first loss to drop to 18W-1L-1D (13 KOs), survived and used his height and reach advantage in the subsequent rounds to score with jabs and crosses.

Guevara moved around the ring and Casimero’s timing was off in his effort to chase and land a big punch.

Guevara had another trip to the canvas in the sixth but was ruled a slip by referee Ray Corona.

With the outcome hanging in the balance past the halfway mark, the Ormoc City native slowly increased his punch output. Guevara fell in the 10th and 11th, both were still ruled as slips. But the star boxer of the Omega Boxing Gym of Cebu City maintained his aggressiveness until the final bell.

Casimero became an interim champion last February by beating Luis Lazarte of Argentina by 10th round TKO.