Casimero-Donaire camps engage in early heated word war ahead of fight

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Right after Johnriel Casimero and Nonito Donaire agreed to slug it out for bantamweight supremacy, both camps immediately ‘traded blows’ – on social media that is.

A week after joining and posing together at a boxing event, Casimero and Donaire’s camp are already involved in a social media tussle.

Rachel Donaire, Nonito’s wife and manager, trended on Twitter after calling out Casimero’s camp regarding the 24/7 VADA (Voluntary-Anti Doping Association) testing.

In her tweet, Rachel demanded solid proof from the Casimero camp that their fighter was really enlisted in VADA.

MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons was then quick to respond and said that the Donaire camp shouldn’t bother at all because Casimero was already enlisted under the 24/7 VADA testing.

Amid the social media dispute between the two camps, World Boxing Council (WBC) president Mauricio Sulaiman tweeted: “It will be a great fight and we will not tolerate any foul language on any form.”

Initially, it was Guillermo Rigondeaux who was supposed to fight Casimero for the WBO bantamweight belt but Donaire’s huge victory over Nordine Oubaali for the WBC belt quickly changed the fight scenario.

Rumor has it that whoever wins between the all-Filipino clash will either face Rigondeaux or the reigning bantamweight king Naoya Inoue.