John Riel Casimero frustrated by pay cut after near minimum purse bid on next bout

John Riel Casimero is coming off a win over Guillermo Rigondeaux last August. It certainly wasn’t the most exciting affair, but it marked his fifth straight title win, and he was hoping for a high profile bout next against either Nonito Donaire or Naoya Inoue.

Neither of those bouts against his fellow bantamweight champions materialized, and the WBO instead ordered a mandatory title defense against UK’s Paul Butler. To make things worse, neither of their promoters joined the purse bid. Upstart promotion Probellum went unopposed and has claimed the rights to the title bout with the bid of $105,000, which is just $5000 over the minimum.

Casimero, who earned over six digits in recent bouts, will have a much lower purse this time. He will get 75% of that near minimum winning purse bid, which amounts to $78,750 before deductions. Butler will get 25%, or $26,250.

Donaire also recently revealed that Casimero would’ve earned “at least four times that amount” had their proposed bout pushed through for December. The fight was said to have fallen apart (again) due to internal issues within Casimero’s camp, management and promoter. Unless there are drastic last minute changes, both Filipino champions will just face mandatory challengers instead.

Casimero also expressed disappointment on social media.

“I’ll fight even if I don’t have support,” Casimero wrote in Filipino. “Let’s go! I’ll fight so I can help others again.”

Probellum, which is a new organization run by former Golden Boy Promotions executive Richard Schaefer, is planning on hosting the Casimero vs Butler event on December 11, either in Dubai or in Liverpool.