Sabillo cedes title to Mexican

MANILA, Philippines - As early as the opening round it seemed that Merlito Sabillo of the Philippines wasn’t ready to keep his WBO minimumweight crown.

The Mexican challenger, Francisco Rodriguez, jumped on the 30-year-old Sabillo at the opening bell at the Arena Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Rodriguez easily dictated the pace of the action, flooring Sabillo down twice in the second round before finishing him off in the 1:50 mark of the 10th.

It was the first taste of defeat for Sabillo, who traveled all the way to Mexico to defend his 105 lb title.

Sabillo, who trained for more than a month in San Diego, California, will come home empty-handed after dropping to 23-1-1 with 12 knockouts.

Francisco, only 20, hurt Sabillo with clean shots to the head and body, and often pinned the champion against the ropes.

The Mexican was all over Sabillo, who tried hard to retaliate. But he had difficulty getting his punches in, never hurting his challenger.

Sabillo was taking some clean shots and was hardly defending himself when the referee, Eddie Claudio, stepped in to stop the contest.

Francisco ran across the ring to celebrate his victory. He raised his arms as his handlers put the WBO belt around his wait.

It was the first shot at the world title for Rodriguez and it was a successful one. With the victory, he improved his record to 14-2 with 10 knockouts.

Last November, Sabillo faced Carlos Buitrago of Nicaragua at the Araneta Coliseum, and kept his title via a 12-round split draw.