Sonsona's marvellous feat

Newly crowned WBO superflyweight champion Marvelous Marvin Sonsona surprised a truckload of boxing experts by defying the odds in lifting the title from Puerto Rican veteran Jose (Carita) Lopez via a unanimous 12-round decision in Ontario recently.

While the bookmakers were taken aback, Sonsona’s camp wasn’t. His manager Dr. Rajan Yraola knew it all along. So did agent Samson Gello-ani and international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz. They were convinced from the start Sonsona would dethrone Lopez.

It was Gello-ani who persuaded Lewkowicz to give Sonsona the crack at Lopez’ belt even if the unbeaten General Santos City, was only one year old when the Puerto Rican turned pro in 1991. Lopez is 18 years older than Sonsona and had 35 more fights before their Canadian appointment.

What caught Gello’ani’s eye wasn’t just Sonsona’s raw power. It was the kid’s winning attitude. Gello-ani has been involved in pro boxing for more than 20 years – he should know when the right one comes along.

Lewkowicz, who made a name for himself as Oscar de la Hoya’s long-time matchmaker, trusted Gello-ani’s judgment. The man called Picasso for his matchmaking genius went as far as investing in the Canada project to get Sonsona the fight against Lopez.

But taking a chance on Sonsona was a high risk proposition. Before the Lopez outing, he had never gone beyond five rounds. Twice, Sonsona answered the fifth round bell to knock out Edwin Picardal and Jerome Bantog, a pair of local boys. He had only 13 fights and never gone abroad.

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Doomsday soothsayers couldn’t imagine Sonsona pulling an upset in his first foreign assignment against a grizzled veteran who has crossed paths with world titlists like Fernando Montiel, Kermin Guardia and Isidro Garcia. Sonsona couldn’t be so lucky, they insisted.

Worse, there were two delays that set back Sonsona’s timetable to land in Ontario. He finally left Manila weighing about eight pounds over the superflyweight limit a little more than a week before the fight. Visa problems left the bulk of Sonsona’s travelling party behind by a day. Sonsona was only with trainer Nonito (Dodong) Donaire Sr. when he took the flight to Ontario via Los Angeles.

Last July, Sonsona, Dr. Yraola and trainer Jun Agrabio visited The Philippine Star office to join in the celebration of the newspaper’s anniversary. Manny Pacquiao was the main guest and Sonsona took the opportunity to ask for some of the ring icon’s luck to rub off on him.

Sonsona took a back seat to Pacquiao during the anniversary program but was nevertheless acknowledged as the next Filipino world champion. Pacquiao graciously shared center stage with Sonsona and wished him good luck.

Now, Sonsona is the WBO superflyweight champion and Dr. Yraola plans to bring him back to The Star office to thank the employees for their prayers and best wishes. Dr. Yraola said before Sonsona leaves for his first title defense, tentatively on Nov. 21, in Ontario, he will again visit The Star office for good luck.

Beating Lopez was no easy job. Sonsona showed remarkable poise in adjusting his fight plan to throw off Lopez who desperately tried to stage a comeback after getting floored in the fourth round. Sonsona started off slugging and wound up boxing, outwitting the veteran at his own game.

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Donaire must be credited for Sonsona’s mid-fight adjustment. Known as a master tactician, Donaire was determined to prove he isn’t a one-hit wonder. He is best known for piloting his son Nonito Jr. to the IBF flyweight title two years ago. Donaire showed his mettle by taking the unheralded Sonsona to the WBO throne.

The judges had no difficulty choosing the winner. Ted Gimza saw it 116-109, Kelly Zolnierczyk 115-110 and Harry Davis 114-111, all for Sonsona. Lopez was thwarted in his first defense of the vacant title he won on a decision over Thailand’s Pramuansak Posuwan in Puerto Rico last March.

Sonsona went the full route in a fight for only the second time in his young career. He marked his pro debut with a four-round decision over Richard Donaire (no relation to his trainer) in Binangonan then racked up 13 straight knockouts.

Curiously, Lopez was offered an attractive purse by Top Rank to stake his crown against Donaire’s son but he declined, preferring to face a supposedly “easier” opponent.

By the way, I had mentioned in a previous column that Rene Bonsubre, writing in philboxing.com from Cebu, set the record straight by citing Morris East as the youngest Filipino world titlist ever and correctly pointing out that Sonsona fell 10 days short of breaking the mark.

East was 19 years and 32 days old when he knocked out Akinobu Hiranaka to wrest the WBA superlightweight crown in Tokyo on Sept. 9, 1992. East was born in Olongapo City on Aug. 8, 1973.

Sonsona won the WBO diadem at 19 years and 41 days old – nine days shy of matching East’s record and 10 days short of setting a new mark. He was born on July 25, 1990. Two other Filipinos won world titles at 19 but Ben Villaflor and Manny Pacquiao were months older than East when he achieved his feat.