Purse bidding to determine venue of Casimero’s world title defense

THE venue for the scheduled mandatory defense of IBF world light flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero against Luis Alberto Rios of Panama will be decided by purse bidding.

IBF Championships Chairman Lindsey E. Tucker was quoted in an article by Carlos Costa posted on philboxing.com as saying that “the International Boxing Federation (IBF) called for a Purse Bid because we gave Johnriel Casimero and Luis Rios 30 days to negotiate. They were not able to reach an agreement so we called for the Purse Bid on January 2, 2013 in the IBF office in Springfield, New Jersey. Bids will be opened at 12 noon.”

Rios (18-1-1, 13 KOs) earned the right to be the number one contender for Casimero’s title by beating Mexican Feilipe Salguero by 11th round knockout last October. Casimero (17W-2L, 10 KOs), who fights out of the Omega Boxing Gym of Mabolo,Cebu City, made a successful first defense of his title last August against Pedro Guevara by split decision in Mazatlan, Mexico.

The website of the IBF actually posted on their world rankings page that the date for Casimero’s mandatory defense will be on Jan. 19, 2013 but this date could very well change depending on the result of the bidding on January 2.  /Correspondent Rene Bonsubre Jr.