Trainers of WBO minimum weight champion Merlito “The Tiger” Sabillo are busy making the ALA bet more prepared for his July 6 title defense against Colombian Jorle Estrada in the main event of Pinoy Pride XXI in Manila.
Edito “ALA” Villamor said that he and retired ALA Boxing gym stalwart turned trainer Michael Domingo are trying to develop Sabillo’s counter punching skills. And so far for them, it’s working perfectly.
Sabillo, known to be an aggressive boxer, will resume his training at the ALA Gym in Talamban today after a series of television appearances in Manila to promote his world-title defense.
According to Villamor, Sabillo already covered 60 to 70 percent of his entire training.
“We all know his charisma inside the ring, especially his killer instinct and his aggressiveness. But we will make sure that he will become a perfect counter puncher,” said Villamor.
Villamor came up with the idea after watching Estrada’s fight tapes. He described Estrada as a technical counter-punching boxer unlike Sabillo, who is used to being very aggressive.
Sabillo is undefeated after 21 matches. He has 11 wins by knockouts. He snatched the WBO minimum weight title against Luis dela Rosa in Colombia last March via an eighth-round TKO.
Estrada, on the other hand, has a record of 16 wins with five knockouts and six losses .
Meanwhile, after his painful loss against Thai Pongluang Sor Singyu last year for the WBO world bantamweight title in Manila, AJ “Bazooka” Banal (28-2-1, 20KOs) is now showing a lot of improvement in his ongoing training under Villamor’s supervision. He is set to fight Mexican Ramon Maas (26-3,15KOs) in the undercard.