Casimero gets a pass from WBO, retains bantamweight world title

Three-division champion John Riel Casimero will get to keep his WBO world bantamweight title following the major sanctioning body's official resolution announced on Thursday.

Casimero, 32, was supposed to defend his strap against mandatory challenger Paul Butler in Dubai last December 11 but the Filipino was hospitalized before the official weigh-in having suffered from viral gastritis.

The World Boxing Organization then told Casimero's camp to provide a medical certificate within ten days to prove his illness or risk getting stripped of the title. Team Casimero was able to provide the document, which in the end, satisfied the WBO.

"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," the resolution read.

"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 is also giving Probellum, the promotional outfit that won the purse bid between Casimero and Butler for $105k, fifteen days to decide if they want to reschedule the bout between the pair.

—MGP, GMA News