Casimero: Inoue not a ‘Monster’ but a ‘Turtle’

Quarantined for the past 12 days in a hotel that’s just a 20-minute drive from his home in Ormoc City, Filipino boxing champ John Riel Casimero is understandably feeling like a caged beast.

“I’m bored. I can’t even jog around,” Casimero said in Filipino. “I want to go home already.”

His restlessness was palpable during the video call. The 30-year-old Casimero, a four-division champion, kept pacing the hall of the hotel while answering questions.

He has had a visit from his girlfriend and two daughters, who dropped by upon his arrival from the United States, where he stayed for eight long months.

In the grasp of inactivity due to health protocols aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic, Casimero has focused his energy on engaging potential foes on social media.

“I was exchanging messages with Luis Nery, he told me he’s not afraid to face me,” he said of the undefeated Mexican boxer, who holds the WBC super bantamweight title.

Casimero is coming off a brutal technical knockout win over Duke Micah of Ghana to retain his WBO bantamweight title late last month in Connecticut. But it didn’t seem to please Casimero.

Clearly, he wants more.For starters, Micah wasn’t the opponent he wanted to face. It wasn’t the right city. And the card certainly wasn’t big enough a platform to showcase his flashy, explosive brand of boxing.

He wants Japanese champ Naoya Inoue, who he accuses of dodging him.

“I’m getting annoyed at him,” said Casimero, who has been using his Facebook pages to take a dig at Inoue.

Casimero said Inoue must change his moniker from “Monster” to “Turtle.”

“He always hides under his shell; he said I can’t hit him. That’s because he is afraid to get out of his shell,” Casimero said.