LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JUNE 19: WBA/IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue of Japan has his arm raised by referee Russell Mora after stopping Michael Dasmarinas of the Philippines in the third round of their title fight at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on June 19, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steve Marcus/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Steve Marcus / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
MANILA, Philippines—Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue, who owns the IBF and WBA Super bantamweight titles, joined the verbal spat between Nonito Donaire and John Riel Casimero–two fighters who own the other belts in the division.
In a Twitter post, Inoue said Casimero doesn’t even deserve to fight after the WBO champion allegedly avoided doping tests that the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency administers.
“Casimero will not run his big mouth anymore,” wrote Inoue on Twitter. “There is no qualification for someone who avoids doping tests. Thank you.”
Naoya Inoue’s tweet about John Riel Casimero. SCREENSHOT INOUE TWITTER
MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons, who promotes Casimero, has since insisted that the bantamweight champion is enrolled under VADA.
While Donaire is Casimero’s target for now, Inoue was also his favorite topic back in 2020 when he alleged the Japanese star was ducking him for their unification fight.
Casimero and Inoue were supposed to fight in early 2020 but that bout was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of fighting Casimero in the United States, Inoue fought and knocked out Jason Moloney in the seventh round of their October 2020 bout.
Casimero, who stopped Duke Micah in his replacement fight in September 2020, was scheduled to fight Donaire this August but that match was supposedly scrapped as the WBC champion pulled out of the bout due to the Ormoc native’s distasteful comment.
Donaire said that Casimero disrespected his wife Rachel and his family in YouTube vlogs.
The WBC champion added that another reason why he pulled the plug on his unification bout with Casimero was the latter’s testing issues.