Casimero Upsets Tete, Wins WBO Title

Johnriel Casimero surprised many in the boxing community by rocking and dropping Zolnati Tete in the third round of their WBO bantamweight title unification bout, stopping Tete to win the championship in upset fashion.

Tete worked his jab over the first couple of rounds, showing an easy size and reach advantage he had over Casimero.

But in the third round, Casimero, who entered this bout as interim WBO champion, caught him with a couple of right hands that sent him to the canvas. Tete got up, but his legs were clearly not underneath him, and Casimero soon dropped him once more.

Wow, what an upset! 😱

Johnriel Casimero stops Zolani Tete in the third round!

A huge shot put him down and the South African never recovered!#MidlandsMayhem pic.twitter.com/B4mp5wUSKI

— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) November 30, 2019

After Tete made his way back to his feet once more, Casimero applied pressure and trapped him in a corner, laying it into the African fighter until the referee stepped in.

This marks Casimero’s fifth straight win and third division in which he has won a world championship, having previously held the IBF junior flyweight and flyweight titles.

In his post-fight interview, he called out Naoya Inoue, who won the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament — the same Tete was forced out of with injury earlier this year — after defeating Nonito Donaire in a WBA/IBF title unification bout.