MARVELOUS SONSONA - CAN WE SLOW DOWN THE HYPE?
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 27 Jul 2009
Recent news reports indicate that the “worst kept secret” in Philippine boxing will finally get on the world stage. Marvin “The Marvelous” Sonsona who built his record and reputation fighting mostly in the Philippines will challenge for a world title come September.
Thanks to international boxing advocate, Sampson Lewkowicz, the kid who for a few years now has been the darling of promoter Sam Gello-ani will be fighting Jose “Carita” Lopez at the Casino Ramo just outside of Toronto, Canada for the WBO super flyweight title.
Lewkowicz is more or less comparing Sonsona’s direction with the path Manny Pacquiao had.
But can he really live up to the hype?
This writer for one certainly hope so because come 2010, we may not have Manny Pacquiao as a boxer anymore. Congressman, maybe.
Based on previous experience Philippine boxing had in the past, hypes do not always produce the results expected, except perhaps when we deal with the likes of Manny Pacquiao.
Thus, we should exercise some caution least we may end up as frustrated as before.
And in so doing, feed the hunger of bloggers and forum posters with ammunitions to criticize our young boxers. These aforementioned people more than often readily brand our young boxers as “bums” when they lose a fight when (no offense meant) only a few of them really know what they are talking about.
Checking Sonsona’s BoxRec entries, one will find that he fought mostly in Cebu. But, his record indeed speaks for itself. He is undefeated in 13 fights and has a KO rate of 92.31%
However, most of his opponents have no winning record to speak of except the three he fought and one more before them.
His latest one, a 2nd round victory via a TKO over Wandee Singwacha, a wily veteran with 57 fights is indeed impressive. No doubt about it!
So was his victory over another Thai, Liempetch Sor Veerapol to win the WBO Pacific Youth Flyweight title.
Other than that, the only other two victories he had against fellows with a winning record were over Louie Bantigue (12-10-5) and Joel Rafols (8-3-2).
Not really that impressive, if I may so.
But don’t get me wrong.
I am sure Lewkowicz and Gello-ani know what they have seen from the kid from General Santos City, the same place that bred our great Manny Pacquiao.
And, I have great faith on the knowledge of the two promoters with regards to picking boxers to groom.
My only concern is we may be hyping the kid too much and things may invariably get into his head.
There is nothing wrong with confidence. It is over confidence that kills.
And, it could happen to young boxers like Sonsona.
We have seen it before. And the sight didn’t look too good.
My other concern about Sonsona’s coming title fight is acclimation to the weather in the Eastern part of Canada.
I realize that early September is not “really that cold”, particularly for people from the Eastern part of this continent. But for Filipinos, particularly those who have not had an experience in climate changes, it could spell a difference.
It could be minor, but we should not leave it to chance.
Thus, if Lewkowicz really planned to have Sonsona train in Canada, I hope he brings Sonsona to Canada in late July. That way, the kid can have plenty of time to gradually acclimatize with the fast changing Canadian weather.
That would not be that hard, huh, Sampson?
With that, there will be no excuses about the weather, if things do not go as expected.
One other concern I have is the kid’s staying power.
This kid has been knocking out his opponents almost as fast as they are brought to his face and has not had much experience about going the distance except the four full rounds he had in his first professional fight.
Hopefully, a great deal of his training will be dedicated to building up his staying power and building a plan a B in case the fight goes the distance.
One saving grace is the fact that Dodong Donaire Sr has been included in his team. Donaire I am sure will take care of those issues with of course the help of Sonsona’s long time trainer, Jun Agrabio.
With that, let’s all come out and support Sonsona. But let us tone down the hype.
And, I call our brothers in the eastern part of the country to come out and see the fight personally.
The call for support includes people from other parts of the continent. Come and see the fight and Toronto as well. If nothing else, the fall season in that part of the world is always something to marvel about. And, the Canadians are great people too.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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