There is still good news for Philippine boxing despite a string of losses for Filipino fighters.
Cebu-based fighter Merlito Sabillo Jr. is now the Filipino world boxing champion after the World Boxing Organization (WBO) awarded him the mini-flyweight title, the WBO said on its website.
The WBO gave Sabillo (21-0, 11 knockouts) the 105-pound belt after former holder Moises Fuentes of Mexico decided to move up to the light flyweight division.
Fuentes (16-1-1, eight knockouts) challenged WBO 108-lb champ Donnie “Ahas” Nietes on March 2 with the match ending in a draw.
The Toboso, Negros Occidental-born Sabillo joins fellow Filipino champions Nietes and John Riel Casimero, who holds the International Boxing Federation version of the light flyweight division.
Sabillo is fresh from an eighth-round technical knockout win over Colombian Luis Dela Rosa in their March 9 showdown for the interim mini-flyweight strap at the Coliseo Mario de León in Cerete, Colombia.
Eight-time world division champion Manny Pacquiao dropped his two matches last year, a split decision loss to Timothy Bradley Jr. that cost him the WBO welterweight crown and a sixth-round knockout setback to Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez.
Brian Viloria and Nonito Donaire Jr. also lost matches early this month that also cost them their respective world title belts.
The Hawaiian Punch lost his WBO and World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight crowns when he suffered a split decision loss to Juan Francisco Estrada while the Filipino Flash was outsmarted by two-time Olympic champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in their WBA and WBO super bantamweight unification bout.
Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista was the latest Pinoy boxer to fall after a split decision loss to Mexican Jose Ramirez last week in their WBO international featherweight title clash in Davao City.
