Photo Courtesy: Philboxing.com

Another good news for Philippine boxing came about before Christmas as another young prospect from Mandaue City, Cebu surprised everyone with his stunning victory over a Nicaraguan foe. John Riel Casimero was a huge underdog going for the fight against the tough Nicaraguan Cesar Canchila for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim light flyweight title last December 19 in Managua, Nicaragua.

Casimero, was born on February 13, 1990 and grew up in Ormoc City in the eastern Philippine province of Leyte, but is now residing in Mandaue City, Cebu. His ring record now stands at 14-0 with 8 KOs. Following his astounding victory over Canchila, Casimero is now the WBO interim light flyweight champion. His status as an interim champion gives him a very large window in fighting against Ivan Calderon of Puerto Rico, the current ‘regular’ WBO champion in his weight category. Besides, he could fight the other big names in this division like Giovanni Segura, Omar Niño Romero and Japanese rising star Ryo Miyazaki.

Big fights are big tests for the budding star John Riel. As a fellow Filipino, I hope that John Riel is for real.

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WBC straw weight champion Oledong Sithsamerchai of Thailand is set to defend his title to Juan Palacios of Nicaragua on Friday, November 27 in Pathum Thani, Thailand.  It will be the first mandatory title defense for Sithsamerchai after defeating Eagle Den Junlaphan last November 2007. He vows to keep his record clean which now stands at 32-0-0 with 12 KOs.

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South Korea’s golf phenom Shin Ji-Yai came short of grabbing the LPGA Player of the Year Award after finishing eight in the recent LPGA Tour Championship in Texas. Shin Ji-Yai already clinched the Rookie of the Year award though. She has been on the spotlight for the past months for her superb performances that would have put her as the first golfer after Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year awards.

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South Korea national team manager Huh Jung-moo recently won the Asian Football Confederation’s Coach of the Year award in the annual awards in Kuala Lumpur.  Huh Jung-moo guided his team to qualify in the 2010 World Cup and once had a 27 game winning streak before bowing to Serbia in friendlies last November 18. He became to the fifth South Korean to receive such honor.

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Japan’s Yasuhito Endo was named Asian Football Confederation’s Player of the year at the annual awards ceremony in Kula Lumpur. Endo who also plays for local club Gamba Osaka beat fellow Japanese Kengo Nakamura, Firas Al Khatib of Syria and Hadi Aghily of Iran for the coveted plum.

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LA Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla is now recovering in Metropolitan Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua after he was accidentally shot in the leg by his instructor in one of his target shooting sessions last Tuesday, November 3.

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Vergel Meneses was recently named as the new head coach of the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers basketball team in the Philippines’ National Collegiate Athletic Association after former coach Ariel Vanguardia’s contract was not renewed.

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Christiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid will continue to be sidelined and will miss this Saturday’s game against Atletico Madrid following reports that his ankle injury showed no signs of progress.

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Greg Norman will miss this year’s Australian Open after his doctors advised him not to play competitive golf within the year as he recovers from the arthroscopic surgery he underwent last September.