John Riel Casimero essayed a resounding return to the ring, scoring a sensational first-round technical knockout victory over American Saul Sanchez in their non-title super  bantamweight bout at the Yokohama Budokan in Japan set on Sunday, Oct. 13 (Manila time).

While his first bout after a year of hiatus was surrounded by yet another weight mismanagement issue after coming in over the limit, Casimero shut out all the noise and powered through, sending Sanchez down twice in the opening frame before the referee formally halted the fight at the 2:41 mark.

The first knockdown came just seconds into the contest when Sanchez’s feet wobbled after an overhand right from Casimero.

Seeing the opportunity, the 35-year-old pride of Ormoc, Leyte pressed the fight and caught Sanchez again with a right hook as the American went down 22 seconds into the bout.

Sanchez shrugged off the knockdown and retaliated with solid hits to Casimero but the Filipino detonated a booming counter left hook to the chin of the American who, this time, fell flat on his back.

Sanchez stood up and beat the count and although groggy still kept his guard up and survived the initial onslaught from Casimero who was obviously trying to go for the kill.

Only looking to survive the round, Sanchez already pulled his punches before a whistling straight from Casimero rocked his head anew enough for the referee to waive off the fight.

Casimero improved to a 34-4-1 record with 23 knockouts while Sanchez, rated No. 8 in their division in World Boxing Rrganization rankings, slid to a 21-4 slate with 12 KOs.