Sabillo bows to Edward Heno

THE Civil War between an Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) champion and an Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) titlist was indeed a brawl with both counting their lumps and bruises after 12 rounds of boxing at Gaisano Grand mall in Bacolod over the weekend.

Merlito Sabillo failed to put a "tiger" in his tank and Edward Heno controlled the war like a general would do.

From the opening round till the end, Heno was just a heinous jabber using his longer reach to stall Sabillo's kamikaze attack.

Lighter at 103 pounds against Sabillo's 106, mobile Heno kept the Bacolod slugger looked slower as he simply outclassed his adversary.

"Tiger" has some success once in a while but most of the rounds went to Heno in the eyes of two of the three judges. At times, the fans thought Sabillo got it when Heno got cornered and used the rope while taking cover.

It was the reverse as Heno was just using Ali's rope-a-dope and came up with his own flurry of punches. In the end, no amount of encouragement and false hope from his handlers could turn the tide in Sabillo's favor as Heno danced away the remainder of the bout.

There were no excuses for Tiger as he ask for forgiveness to his fans and friends who went home disappointed.

Sabillo will just train again and look for another opportunity to return with vengeance and hope to make his reign as champ a little longer. Sun.Star Bacolod