John Riel Casimero presents show cause order on time, keeps belt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

John Riel Casimero will no longer be stripped of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight championship belt after his camp reportedly complied with the show cause order after missing his supposed weigh-in against mandatory challenger Paul Butler.

The fight was supposed to go down last December 11, 2021 but the Filipino champion was a no-show during the weigh-in, claiming that he had viral gastritis.

Casimero’s camp also said that their ward was taken to the hospital due to the intense pain that became the main reason for his absence.

After the missed weigh-in, WBO was quick to order the show cause requesting Casimero’s medical documents as proof to avoid getting stripped of his belt.

Fortunately, Casimero was able to comply with the show cause order setting up another bantamweight clash against Butler on a new date.

“There is no controversy as to the cause of Casimero’s physical impediment to engaging in the WBO bantamweight mandatory championship bout against Paul Butler per the medical documents furnished to the WBO. In essence, all the supportive evidence concluded that Casimero’s diagnosis was viral gastritis,” stated the WBO in a five-page resolution.

WBO then made it clear for Casimero that if he fails to attend the second weigh-in, they will automatically strip him of his bantamweight belt.

The same case for Butler as the boxing organization also discussed that if he will commit the same thing as Casimero, he will also be stripped of his mandatory challenger seat.

“Furthermore, these findings were rendered by duly licensed physicians and certified by the respective medical institutions. Therefore, we deem it unnecessary to challenge these findings through independent medical reviews,” the WBO added.