By Nick Giongco
South African champion Zolani Tete is focused on messing up Filipino John Riel Casimero’s offense as the two fighters gear up for their Nov. 30 showdown for the World Boxing Organization bantamweight crown in Birmingham, England.
John Riel Casimero, right, gets pointers from famed conditioning coach Memo Heredia in Las Vegas. Heredia was with Juan Manuel Marquez when the Mexican knocked out Manny Pacquiao in 2012.
“We have been preparing for Casimero since the announcement was made in September. At some point we had to tone down our training,” said Tete’s manager Mlandeli Tengimfene in an interview Friday with the website Sowetan.
To get ready for Casimero, who lost to South African Moruti Mthalane many years ago, Tete’s team reviewed four of his fights.
“We picked up that Casimero has never fought a left-hander and we then made Zolani exaggerate his left-hand stance in training so that we frustrate Casimero,” said Tengimfene.
Loyiso Mtya, one of Tete’s trainers, insists the concentration in the final days before the fight will be on maintaining the condition and finalizing the strategy.
Mtya feels Casimero has drastically improved since he lost to Mthalane.
“He was young, up and coming then. He looks bigger and more solid at bantamweights than when he fought Mthalane at flyweights. We know him the way we think he knows us,” he said.
Casimero, meanwhile, is packing his bags in Las Vegas, where he has been training the last six weeks for the flight to the UK.
Tete, 31, holds a 28-3 record with 21 KOs while Casimero, 30, has a 28-4 card with 19 KOs, numbers that suggest that they are evenly matched.
Tete and company jet off to the UK on Friday.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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