MERLITO Sabillo successfully retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight title following a ninth round stoppage of Colombian Jorle Estrada Saturday night at the Solaire Resort and Casino Hotel.
A solid left by Sabillo to Estrada’s abdomen took the fight out of the skinny challenger, who was still writhing in pain when referee Raul Caiz Jr. counted him out.
The end came at the 1:09 mark of the ninth round.
“Medyo nahirapan din ako kasi magalaw `yung kalaban. Pero sabi ng corner ko bodega talaga ang dapat na target namin,” said the 29-year-old native of Bacolod City, who was making the first defense of his 105-lbs title.
Sabillo improved to 23-0 with 12 KOs.
“Nagmamadali kasi ako dahil gusto kong maka-knockout agad. Pero panay paalala ng corner ko konting tiyaga lang basta bodega ang target namin.”
The challenger from San Pelayo, Colombia fell to 17-7, including 6 KOs.
In the main undercard, King Arthur Villanueva scored a fourth round technical knockout of Arturo Badillo of Mexico to claim the WBO Asia-Pacific super-flyweight championship.
The fight was stopped at the 2:03 mark of the fourth as the Mexican came under a barrage of punches from the unbeaten Filipino at the corner.
“Nakita ko kasi nahilo na siya (Badillo) kaya binuhos ko na,” said Villanueva, who improved to 22-0, with 12 KOs.
Also posting an impressive victory in the Pinoy Pride XXI boxing card presented by ALA Promotions and giant network ABS-CBN was comebacking former world title challenger AJ `Bazooka’ Banal.
The 24-year-old Banal was a second round technical knockout winner over Abraham Gomez in the other featured undercard.

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