Ghana's Duke Micah failed in his bid to annex the WBO Bantamweight title after losing via a third round TKO against Filipino John Riel Casimero.

Micah started the fight well by using his jab but seemed to fizzle out physically as the fight progressed.

The Ghanaian went down in the second round but made it back onto his feet in time to see out the round despite enduring punishment from Casimero for nearly one minute.

The 29-year-old, whom prior to this fight was 24-0-19KOs, was checked by the ringside doctor and was passed fit to continue with the fight, but was unable to see out the third round as the champion Casimero finished him off with an uppercut to extend his knockout streak to six out of six fights.

The defeat means Ghana is likely to end the year 2020 without a world title after similar endings to the year 2019 and 2018 when Richard Commey and Isaac Dogboe lost the IBF Lightweight and WBO Super Bantamweight titles to Teofimo Lopez and Emmanuel Navarrete respectively.