MARVIN SONSONA: THE RELUCTANT WOULD-BE CHAMPION
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 22 Sep 2015
There is an old adage that goes like this- ?you can lead a horse to the water but can?t force it to drink?.
For some reason, this is what boxing promoters Samson Gello-ani and Sampson Lewkowicz are doing with Marvin Sonsona.
The duo had been overly patient with the very irresponsible young talent who at his age can?t still decide if he wants to be a world champion boxer or just hang around with his friends and spend his money.
Sonsona tasted the lime-light once and being young at that time things possibly got into his head.
He beat Jose Lopez in September 2009 at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada and became the WBO World super flyweight champion. It was a clean lopsided win with the judges scoring 114-111,115-110 and 116-109.
Gello-ani and Lewkowicz then decided that they found a true gem and they had hopes for another Manny Pacquiao in the making.
But alas, they were not even close.
They found a kid with obvious talent but clearly still very young at heart and utterly irresponsible and not focus to cultivating all his potentials. He just wanted to party and not train.
On his very next fight to defend his title two months later against Alejandro Hernandez of Mexico,
Sonsona lost his belt on the scales. The kid could not make weight! When they allowed the fight to continue albeit without a chance for him to win back his belt, he fought so badly and the fight he was supposed to win ended up in a draw!
But Gello-ani and Lewkowicz still believe in the kid and they found him another title fight. This time it was against Wilfredo Vasquez Jr of Puerto Rico for the WBO World super bantamweight crown February 2011. Sonsona was stopped at 2:01 of round 4.
Again, his promoters thought that perhaps the loss was a fluke and they continued to nurture him in spite of his bad behavior.
True enough Sonsona then racked up four consecutive wins including capturing the WBO International featherweight crown with a 3rd round KO of Akifumi Shimoda of Japan.
He followed that act with a revenge split decision win over Wilfrido Vasquez Jr at the famed New York?s Madison Square Garden to earn the NABF featherweight title.
To keep him focus his promoters took him to Vegas to train without distractions from his local Philippine friends. The move in some small measure, seems to have paid up.
Sonsona won a unimpressive majority decision against Jonathan Arellano at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, CA last June in spite forgetting his mouthguard in Las Vegas where he trained and went on to fight using a remolded mouthguard previously owned by Jonreil Casimiro, his stable mate in Vegas.
With that he was again lined up for a title fight, this time for the WBC World featherweight crown against Gary Russell of the USA. But sadly Sonsona lost the chance to fight Russell as he ?failed to show up for training?.
What is interesting is Gello-ani and Lewkowicz keeps on turning blind eyes to the shenanigans of Sonsona. In fact, Gello-ani said in spite of missing the training sessions that could have led to a title fight with Gary Russell, the duo still hopes he will come back to training so they can line him up ?with a tune up fight?. Gello-ani reported said that Sonsona also lost an opportunity to fight Jhonny Gonzalez of Mexico due to his failure to report to training camp.
While I understand the desire of Gello-ani and Lewkowicz to keep on being patient with Sonsona and his potential to bring in good revenue, I find it ridiculous that they continue to pamper a very reluctant would-be champion.
I think it?s about time to damp him and let Sonsona find his own destiny without the duo spending so much time (and money I suppose) chasing him down to conjure him to train. It?s not like they have not given him ample room to change directions. The kid is a tremendous talent. However it takes more than that to be a deserving world champion worthy of admiration from boxing fans. Clearly the kid lacks dedication, desire for hard work and focus. There are so many more Filipino youngsters deserving of the attention wasted on Marvin Sonsona.
Damping Sonsona may eventually allow Al Haymon to snare him to his stable. Perhaps that is why the duo keeps on being patient with him. Understandably they want returns on their investments made on Sonsona. But I am almost sure, if Sonsona signs with Haymom, he will have to change his attitude to get good fights. I not sure that can happen in a jiffy.
Basing on his past, I doubt if Haymon?s money can change the bad attitude of Sonsona. It?s ingrained in his persona. Sonsona is just not cut out to be a worthy champion whose name will be worth mentioning alongside Filipino world champions like Manny Pacquiao and the great Flash Elorde.
I challenge him to prove me wrong.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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