Manila defense up for ‘fearless’ champ

MANILA, Philippines - One of the country’s three reigning world boxing champions will make the first defense of his crown in Manila on July 6 and he can’t wait to showcase his wares in his capital city debut.

WBO minimumweight titlist Merlito Sabillo of Toboso, Negros Occidental, has never fought in Manila since turning pro as a late-blooming 24-year-old in Bacolod in 2008. Last March, he traveled to Cerete, Colombia, to engage hometowner Luis de la Rosa in his first overseas outing for the interim crown. Sabillo, 29, stopped De la Rosa in the eighth round of a barnburner. When Mexico’s Moises Fuentes relinquished the 105-pound throne to invade the lightflyweight division, Sabillo was named his successor by WBO president Paco Valcarcel of Puerto Rico.

Sabillo’s manager Michael Aldeguer is now negotiating to stage the first defense at the Solaire Resort and Casino. “We are still in the process of negotiations right now with the Solaire group and hopefully, we’ll know soon if it will be Solaire or another venue but still in Manila,” said Aldeguer. Sabillo’s challenger in the voluntary defense is No. 6 contender Jorie Estrada, a Colombian like De la Rosa.

Aldeguer said he expects Manila fans to embrace Sabillo like Manny Pacquiao. “Sabillo is fearless and has the entertaining style of a Manny Pacquiao as he likes to go for the kill every time,” he said. “What makes Sabillo special is his positive attitude and relentless style.” Sabillo is unbeaten with a 21-0 record, including 11 KOs. He has stopped his last four opponents, two in the first round, Rollen del Castillo and Jovel Romasasa. De la Rosa was his second foreign victim, the first was Indonesia’s Sofyan Effendi whom he outpointed in an eight-rounder in Cebu last year. In the Philippines, he has seen action only in Bacolod and Cebu.

Aldeguer said Sabillo, a southpaw, endured a rough journey to Colombia but shrugged off the discomfort and hostile conditions to halt De la Rosa. “Not a lot of people know that he had to sleep in the airport for nine hours because of the flight schedule and arrived in Colombia early morning of Thursday two days before the fight with not much sleep yet he told his trainers (Edito Villamor and Michael Domingo) he felt good after he landed from 48 hours of traveling.”

Against De la Rosa, Sabillo was on attack mode from the start. He bloodied De la Rosa in the first round, dropped him in the seventh and finished him off with a vicious left straight to the face in the eighth. Referee Gino Rodriguez of Puerto Rico stopped it as a badly battered De la Rosa barely beat the 10-count on rubbery legs. De la Rosa didn’t protest Rodriguez’ decision as he walked back to his corner.

“After Sabillo’s win, I got an early morning call from WBO Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo to tell me that Mr. Valcarcel described him as a star in the making and should reign long as a world champion as he could be the best 105-pounder right now,” said Aldeguer.

Sabillo was initially set to stake his crown on June 29 in Bacolod but Aldeguer moved it to July 6 in Manila to expose the fighter to the Manila crowd. The only other two Filipino world champions are IBF lightflyweight king Johnriel Casimero and WBO lightflyweight titlist Donnie Nietes.

Three Filipino challengers are lined up to bid for world titles in the next two months. Edrin Dapudong battles Gideon Buthelezi in an IBO superflyweight title bout in Johannesburg on June 15. Denver Cuello faces WBO minimumweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong of China in Dubai on June 28. And Milan Melindo takes on WBO/WBA flyweight king Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico in Macau on July 27.

Sabillo’s challenger Estrada is coming off three wins in a row. He won his first 10 fights and has compiled a record of 16-6, with 5 KOs. Four of his losses came abroad, twice in Mexico and once in Panama and Nicaragua. Estrada, 24, has never won outside of his home country. Three of his defeats were by knockout to Carlos Velarde on a body shot, Carlos Buitrago and Pedro Guevara. Estrada stands an inch less than Sabillo. Only two of Estrada’s victims had winning records so the Colombian has feasted on patsies throughout most of his career.