By Gina L. Caliboso, RingsideReport.com
A southpaw super flyweight from General Santos City, Mindanao, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines. Sound familiar? Yes, RSR readers, I’m writing about “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona, 14-0-1, 12 KO’s. He is one of the promising Filipino fighters on their way up in boxing.
At the very young age of 19, Sonsona shows nothing but promise. However, while boxing is definitely a youth oriented sport with a veteran fighter such as Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins showing that age and a daunting competitive edge and experience can make all the difference in a fight, Sonsona and his camp must cultivate his talent wisely to become the best fighter his promise already indicates.
Born in General Santos City, Mindanao, the similarities with Manny Pacquiao are striking. In footage I’ve seen, Sonsona has a promising jab with good power and balance. With an undefeated record of 14-0-1, 12 KO’s, his boxing record is off to a great start. Some say that he is better at his age than Pacquiao.
If that is the case, those are some tough footsteps to follow and the world will definitely be watching the flyweight division with a much closer eye and with some much needed exposure.
In his camp, there is one name worth mentioning. His current trainer is listed as Nonito Donaire, SR. Yes, father of IBF Flyweight titleholder, Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire. Trainer Donaire, SR., definitely has the inside track to training champion caliber fighters as shown through the success of sons Nonito and Glenn. And now with Sonsona, Donaire Sr. can definitely lead his fighter into a great career. However, it’s also enough to think that getting to the top of a weight class is challenging, it’s staying champion at a weight class that is the true test for a fighter and his entire camp.
As such a young fighter, Sonsona needs to remember exactly that – he is a young fighter. There’s time for him to grow into a better boxer. It is here perhaps that his camp and trainers must remember that while Sonsona’s youth works in his favor on all levels, they also need to protect this fighter to ensure a long lasting, if not profitable career and future in championship boxing. According to boxrec.com, Sonsona currently ranks number 6 among active super flyweights. Vic Darchinyan and Nonito Donaire, JR., rank numbers 1 and 2.
Sonsona made his boxing debut back in 2007 at the weight of 106 pounds (we all know who started at this weight at one point in his pound for pound career). In the past two years, Sonsona has steadily moved up in weight, but he is after all still a growing young man and boxer.
In September 2009, Sonsona fought against veteran Puerto Rican fighter Jose “Carita” Lopez for the WBO Super Flyweight title. Over 12 rounds, Sonsona went on to defeat Lopez with a unanimous decision. Although a 12 round unanimous decision in impressive, it has also been Sonsona’s longest fight to date. With his impressive victory, Sonsona is now the WBO Super Flyweight Champion and is now the second youngest Filipino world boxing champion after former WBA Light Welterweight champion Morris East.
Prior to his fight against Lopez, Sonsona has been fortunate enough to not have a lot of ring time. This is good and bad. But I’m going to argue both – it’s good he hasn’t taken a lot of punishment over his 12 bouts, but it’s also bad because while he has defeated his opponents rather convincingly with KO’s and TKO’s, it will only take a different type of fighter to take him and make him fight longer than 5 rounds.
In November 2008, Sonsona defeated Edwin “Roy Jones” Picardal in 5 rounds by TKO in a scheduled 8 round fight. Prior in July 2008, Sonsona defeated Jerome Buntog in 5 rounds by TKO in a scheduled 6 round fight.
Sonsona recently defended his title against Alejandro “Payasito” Hernandez an orthodox fighter hailing from Mexico. The fight took place in Ontario, Canada. As much as I’m enjoying the Filipino fighters making their way into the boxing scene, I don’t see the point of rushing into a championship title defense bout only two months after fighting a 12 round fight to earn the belt.
Sonsona held onto his title with a twelve round draw, but he and his camp must be wary to take fights that will give him much needed experience, beneficial exposure, and the opportunity to fight under a bigger promotional venue.
For Sonsona, his biggest challenge will be to take his time in his career. There’s no need to rush his talent. Even with the shining heroic example of countryman Pacquiao, he must not feel pressure to immediately jump on the money making potential of his eventual rise to the top. Pacquiao did not become the best fighter overnight. Through time, hard work, a loss here and there (only 3), Pacquiao worked and spilled a lot of his opponents’ blood as well as his own.
Time is exactly what Sonsona has on his side.
If Sonsona is as good as Pacquiao then there’s a lot to look for in Sonsona, but I just hope he’s around long enough for him to have a career. I stick with the idea that given his fight schedule back in 2008, it wouldn’t necessarily hurt his body to take some time off before a fight.
As Sonsona may or may not go through the moving up in weight drama, he definitely has a long career ahead of him. And with his undefeated record to date, I hope that with the proper guidance, he’ll definitely be around for a while to show just how much better he is going to become.
Source: ringsidereport.com
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