After days of back-and-forth on social media, WBC bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire put out a lengthy statement declaring that he won’t face WBO champion John Riel Casimero in their scheduled August 14th unification match. He cites both “unprofessional behavior” by Casimero and his team and the previously established issues with “Quadro Alas’” enrolling with VADA.
I am known to take stands people are afraid to take. I STAND for VADA 24/7/365 testing for ALL boxers. This should never be refused or delayed. I stand against BULLYING in any form. I STAND against the disrespect and ABUSE of women and children physically, mentally and emotionally. AND I STAND against misogynistic culture. A grown man recently told the mother of my boys to ‘snack on his —-’. We cannot ignore this unprofessional behavior. We cannot excuse the disgusting trolling memes created of my wife as ‘just for entertainment’. I don’t want other pro athletes to cross this line and think this type of behavior is acceptable. We have to maintain a respectable character, especially online, for the future generations to emulate, and not promote ignorance and foul behavior. For the boxing culture to change, promoters and networks should veer away from unacceptable behavior and not encourage it. That being said, as we’ve stated before, we cancelled this fight when they delayed turning in the VADA paperwork for 5 days. We have proof that the opposing side was neither honest nor forthcoming in providing the proper information to begin VADA drug testing. AFTER we cancelled the fight, then and only then did the paperwork suddenly appear. I do what I say. And as much as I want to knock him out, I’m going to take the high road and instead of highlighting his misbehaviors, I’m not going to give his example the stage or the payday that comes with it.
For the record, I think the one specific example he’s referring to Casimero (30-4, 21 KO) promoter Sean Gibbon’s refrain of “SNAC on my nuts,” which is his favored comment about doping specialist turned nutritionist Victor Conte. Conte briefly worked with “The Filipino Flash” early in the 2010s and has stuck his neck in the ongoing spat.
According to Dan Rafael, Showtime “declined to comment” and Gibbons “could not be reached for comment.”
As far as where things go from here, Gibbons has said that Casimero is fighting on that date regardless of what Donaire does, so the obvious solution would be to stick Guillermo Rigondeaux back in there and proceed like nothing happened. “El Chacal” wasn’t even contractually guaranteed a crack at the winner, so this works in his favor. On Donaire’s (41-6, 27 KO) side, Bob Arum’s claimed a willingness to cut out the middleman and just book the inevitable Naoya Inoue rematch right away.
We’ll keep you posted on whatever stupid developments ensue in this stupid saga.