Merlito Sabillo v Carlos Buitrago

It seems incredibly rare now a days for the judges to actually get things right. They do occasionally. but the key word there is occasionally. Thankfully today saw one of those fights as the judges rightly scored a draw and saw Merlito Sabillo (23-0-1, 12) retain his WBO Minimumweight title against fellow unbeaten fighter Carlos Buitrago (27-0-1-1, 16).

The fight, at one point, looked like the title was going to change hands. After 3 rounds it was very hard to make a case for Sabillo winning. Buitrago was too quick, too skilled and too talented for Sabillo to continue to box with. The idea to box was a good one though one that failed to work in his favour.

Knowing he was behind Sabillo changed tactics in round 4 and started to try and cut the distance off to get to Buitrago. This began to work and although the champion may have lost round 4 he began to come back in to the fight over the following rounds, cutting the distance and unloading with sheer volume. This saw Sabillo turning the fight in his favour as he started to crawl back the rounds that he had lost early on.

Although Sabillo was coming back in to the fight in a big way, Buitrago was holding his own with the champion and seemed on the verge of a knockdown before Sabillo's street fighter mentality kicked in and he refused to go down instead fighting with more tenacity than ever.

By the time we got to the final bell it was obvious the fight was close and many had already began calls for a rematch. It had been competitive from the first round to the last and although both men had their clear rounds there was enough debate to see either man as the winner. This close and competitive nature was reflected perfectly in the score cards which were 115-113, 114-114 and 113-115.

I'll admit I've joined the chorus of people calling for a rematch and hopefully we'll get one sooner rather than later, something however tells me we could have these two in several bouts together and no one would come out as a clear winner barring a freak shot either way.

Carlos Buitrago v Julian Yedras

The only male world title fight of the past weekend saw Nicaraguan prospect Carlos Buitrago (27-0-0-1, 16) claim the WBO "interim" Minimumweight title.

Buitrago, fighting outside of his homeland for the first time in his career traveled to Mexico and faced fellow unbeaten fighter Julian Yedras (now 21-1, 13). Although the conditions were new the style wasn't as the talented Buitrago showed off his skills from early in the bout as he started to put rounds in the bag with his superior skills.

Whilst Yedras was unable to really cope with the extra gears Buitrago seemed to have he showed his courage and refused to be stopped as he made a number of rounds close. It was these close rounds that allowed Yedras to have any success on the scorecards though they were too limited to help him, even at home.

When the cards came back reading 118-110, 118-111 and 116-113 there was no doubt who the winner was (the only doubt seemed to be how one judge had it close).

Unfortunately for Buitrago (who clearly won here) he showed off some of his flaws, notably the way he rushes his attacks at times and despite his experience he still needs more time to mature before being put into a major fight.

With Filipino Merlito Sabillo holding the "full" version of the WBO world title a bout between Sabillo and Buitrago makes sense though unfortunately for the Nicaraguan I think it'd be a year or two too soon for him. Instead Buitrago needs fights to help him develop and get ready for Sabillo, a bout with someone like Pedro Guevara or Mario Rodriguez would test his mettle and help him "get ready" for Sabillo.