Unheralded Filipino Merlito Sabillo (21-0, 10) made a statement this past weekend to the Minimumweight division as he traveled to Colombia and defeated Colombian Luis De La Rosa (21-2-1, 12) in eye catching fashion to claim the WBO interim Minimumweight title.
The fight started fast as both men came out with bad intentions and it was Sabillo who got an early upper hand inflicting a cut on to De La Rosa in the opening round. Although many fighters go in to their shell when cut it seemed to merely spur on De La Rosa who fought like a wounded animal intent on taking out his attacker.
With De La Rosa cut and Sabillo going toe-to-toe with his opponent the fight quickly erupted in to a war as both men took turns in firing bombs at the other. Neither man willing to back down though neither man quite able to get an upper hand against an opponent who was wanting to claim a portion of the world title. The action was relentless as both men tried their hardest to rock the other and take them out of their game plan though neither man could manage it in the opening half of the bout.
After the back and forth action of the first 7 rounds Sabillo finally got a clear upper hand as he felled De La Rosa in round 8. Although De La Rosa rose to his feet he was back down soon afterwards as Sabillo took advantage of his woozy opponent and forced the stoppage just seconds later.
Although the Colombian fighter had lost the crowd gave both men a show of hands as the local mayor also welcomed Sabillo to return to the area to fight another Colombian fighter later this year. Looking at this it would appear that Sabillo has made a new set of fans as boxing for once treat the away fighter with the dignity and respect they deserved.
Although the full version of the WBO Minimumweight title is held by Mexican Moises Fuentes, rumours are rife that Sabillo will be upgraded to the full champion in the coming months as Fuentes, who was a huge guy at Minimumweight, simply cannot make the 105lb limit. Fuentes, who drew recently with Donnie Nietes (who like Sabillo is a Filipino fighter and part of the ALA Gym) is expected to chase a rematch with Nietes if he can even manage to make 108lbs again, if not he could well move to 112lbs later this year.
Showing posts with label Colombia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colombia. Show all posts
Monday, 11 March 2013
Monday, 18 February 2013
Jonathan Romero v Alejandro Lopez
In one of the most bizarrely scored fights of the year, Colombian Jonathan Romero (23-0, 12) claimed a split decision victory over Mexican Alejandro Lopez (24-3, 7) to claim the previously vacant IBF Super Bantamweight title.
From the opening bell the quicker, more talented Romero set the tone of the fight landing at will on his slower, clumsier Mexican rival. Although Lopez was game he was simply unable to neutralise the clear advantages that the visiting Colombian had over him. Lopez, fighting in front of his home crowd was valiant round after round as he struggled to connect anything of note.
Although Romero was clearly dominating the bout, he rarely, if ever had Lopez in any real trouble as his lack of world class power was shown up by the fact that Lopez repeatedly took his shots. Sadly for Lopez however he lacked any sort of an equaliser himself to ever try and turn the fight in his direction.
Despite having a point deducted in round 12, it was hard to see the bout as anything but a shut out by Romero, though oddly when the cards came back, the scores of 115-112 (each way) and 111-116 (Romero) were genuinely a shock. Lopez hadn't clearly won a round yet one judge saw him, some how, winning 7. Thankfully, despite the atrocious cards the right man won and claimed the title. Despite the victory, on foreign soil, for Romero it's hard to imagine him giving any of the top Super Bantamweights any real trouble. His speed is solid but his lack of power really will limit him at the higher levels, where fighters like Nonito Donaire will walk through his shots with ease.
From the opening bell the quicker, more talented Romero set the tone of the fight landing at will on his slower, clumsier Mexican rival. Although Lopez was game he was simply unable to neutralise the clear advantages that the visiting Colombian had over him. Lopez, fighting in front of his home crowd was valiant round after round as he struggled to connect anything of note.
Although Romero was clearly dominating the bout, he rarely, if ever had Lopez in any real trouble as his lack of world class power was shown up by the fact that Lopez repeatedly took his shots. Sadly for Lopez however he lacked any sort of an equaliser himself to ever try and turn the fight in his direction.
Despite having a point deducted in round 12, it was hard to see the bout as anything but a shut out by Romero, though oddly when the cards came back, the scores of 115-112 (each way) and 111-116 (Romero) were genuinely a shock. Lopez hadn't clearly won a round yet one judge saw him, some how, winning 7. Thankfully, despite the atrocious cards the right man won and claimed the title. Despite the victory, on foreign soil, for Romero it's hard to imagine him giving any of the top Super Bantamweights any real trouble. His speed is solid but his lack of power really will limit him at the higher levels, where fighters like Nonito Donaire will walk through his shots with ease.
Monday, 17 December 2012
Denis Lebedev v Santander Silgado
WBA Cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-1, 19) successfully defended his world crown for the first time as he knocked out Colombian challenger Santander Silgado (23-1, 18) in the 4th round with a genuinely eye catching shot.
The bout started slowly with the opening round being very quiet as both men tried to figure the other out. Both men got through with some shots though there was little of note from either man in a true feeling out round. Sadly it took a while for the fight to warm up though Lebedev was caught off balance in round 2 and was forced to eat several hard right hands from the challenger which he generally took well (apart from the shot that he appeared off balance for). It appeared both men wee showing too much respect to each other.
In round 3 we saw the action starting to warm up as Silgado continuously threw his jabs and started to control the distance excellently. At one point in the third Lebedev looked genuinely frustrated looking towards his trainer, the legendary Kostya Tszyu. Thankfully for the Russian he did manage to get through with several solid shots himself, though Silgado did seem to take them well.
With the bout warming up it seemed to be suiting the champion who would of course prefer a war rather than a tactical battle and thankfully for viewers we ended up getting the war with Lebedev rocking Silgado part way through the round. Following the shot Lebedev went straight in for the kill and both guys swung quite wildly at each other, often catching the others arms. Despite both men missing a number of shots we know with Lebedev that it only takes one and that's what we saw again as he detonated a perfect uppercut that almost seemed to behead Silgado before leaving the challenger unconcious and face first on the canvas.
Until the KO this wasn't the most impressive that I've seen of Lebedev, however his concussive and nasty punch is still as vicious as ever. It's fair to say that Silgado was better than expected however I think we all want to see Lebedev back in the mix with the top fighters in the division such as Marco Huck, Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Ola Afolabi
The bout started slowly with the opening round being very quiet as both men tried to figure the other out. Both men got through with some shots though there was little of note from either man in a true feeling out round. Sadly it took a while for the fight to warm up though Lebedev was caught off balance in round 2 and was forced to eat several hard right hands from the challenger which he generally took well (apart from the shot that he appeared off balance for). It appeared both men wee showing too much respect to each other.
In round 3 we saw the action starting to warm up as Silgado continuously threw his jabs and started to control the distance excellently. At one point in the third Lebedev looked genuinely frustrated looking towards his trainer, the legendary Kostya Tszyu. Thankfully for the Russian he did manage to get through with several solid shots himself, though Silgado did seem to take them well.
With the bout warming up it seemed to be suiting the champion who would of course prefer a war rather than a tactical battle and thankfully for viewers we ended up getting the war with Lebedev rocking Silgado part way through the round. Following the shot Lebedev went straight in for the kill and both guys swung quite wildly at each other, often catching the others arms. Despite both men missing a number of shots we know with Lebedev that it only takes one and that's what we saw again as he detonated a perfect uppercut that almost seemed to behead Silgado before leaving the challenger unconcious and face first on the canvas.
Until the KO this wasn't the most impressive that I've seen of Lebedev, however his concussive and nasty punch is still as vicious as ever. It's fair to say that Silgado was better than expected however I think we all want to see Lebedev back in the mix with the top fighters in the division such as Marco Huck, Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Ola Afolabi
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