John Riel Casimero defeats Guillermo Rigondeaux in miserable fight (Video)

John Riel Casimero vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux was a hard fight to watch due to Rigondeaux’s running, but Casimero came away with an ugly win. 

Before the Aug. 14 boxing bout between bantamweights John Riel Casimero and Guillermo Rigondeaux, Casimero said he hoped Rigondeaux doesn’t run.

Rigondeaux ran for just about the entire bout and fans at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA, weren’t happy.

Dignity Health Sports Park is affectionately known as ‘The War Grounds’ despite Showtime’s corny attempt to rebrand it as ‘The Punch Bowl,’ but Casiomero vs. Rigondeaux was far from a war.

It’s hard to put into words how hard this fight was to watch.

Round 1 started well. Casimero came out throwing lead left hooks to Rigondeaux’s head, and he was landing. Rigondeaux was hurt and even went down at one point, but it was ruled a slip. Rigondeaux tasted enough of Casimero’s power and decided to use movement.

Maybe, movement is an understatement.

John Riel Casimero and  Guillermo Rigondeaux didn’t give boxing fans anything to cheer about in their dismal matchup

For the remaining 11 rounds, Rigondeaux circled left and right and occasionally slipped in a counter left hand out of the southpaw stance. Casimero was too slow to catch him, and that’s how the fight played out round after frustratingly boring round.

The fans booed throughout most of the fight. Their jeers did nothing to stop Rigondeaux’s game plan.

Casimero deverves some blame as well. He was dizzied by Rigondeaux’s movement and looked foolish with how bad he missed some of his punches. Rigondeaux won some rounds because he was the only fighter who could land a punch even though there was nothing on them.

Rigondeaux may be 40, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist out of Cuba was quick on his feet but rarely used his hands in a sport that relies on punches. He fought using an amateur style in a professional bout and almost won one of the ugliest fights in recent memory.

The judges returned scores of 115-113 for Rigondeaux, 116-112, and 117-111 for Casimero making him the winner by split decision. They combined to land a paltry 91 punches, according to ShoStats.

Casimero retained his WBO bantamweight title, but it wasn’t pretty. This fight hurt both boxers’ reputations. People will not line up to watch Rigondeaux any time soon.