SONSONA, MORALES BUCKLE DOWN TO TRAINING IN SAN FRANCISCO
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 10 Jan 2010
Undefeated Filipino youngsters ?Marvelous? Marvin Sonsona (14-0-1, 12 KO?s) and Ciso ?Kid Terrible? Morales (14-0, 8 KO?s) buckled down to work the day after they arrived in San Francisco along with trainer Nonito Donaire Sr.
Morales had been training under Donaire at the IPI Gym in Cebu while Sonsona was reportedly having an enjoyable time through the Christmas and New Year holidays celebrating in his hometown of General Santos City. In the process he failed to board a flight to Manila on two successive days, forcing promoter Sammy Gello-ani to go to GenSan and eventually bring Sonsona to Manila where he joined Morales and Donaire on a late evening Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco last Thursday..
The very next morning the two promising fighters did roadwork at Marina Park and later worked out at the Kennel Boxing Gym in San Leandro, California which is a very nice and rather large facility put up by the nephews of Donaire.
The trainer who steered the career of his son Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire to the IBF/IBO flyweight titles which he won with a sensational one punch, fifth round knockout of hard-hitting Vic Darchinyan on July 7, 2007 before they parted ways after two successful title defenses against Luis Maldonado and Moruti Mthalane told us that if Sonsona trains really hard he has a good chance of beating undefeated Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (17-0, 14 KO?s) in Puerto Rico in their February 27 title fight for the WBO super bantam weight crown. The title was vacated by Juan Manuel ?Juanma? Lopez who has moved up in weight and will fight featherweight champion Steven Luevano for the title.
Prior to leaving for San Francisco, Sonsona visited the office of Viva Sports where he said he was alright and committed to train hard so as not to disappoint his Filipino fans who had expected big things from him after he scored a smashing victory over veteran Jose ?Carita? Lopez to win the WBO super flyweight title at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada last September 4.
Sonsona confessed that he had trained only fifty percent for his first title defense at the samevenue last November 21 against Alejandro Hernandez and lost the title when he couldn?t make the weight. However, the fight ended in a majority draw which left the title vacant.
Sonsona?s handlers, Gello-ani and international matchmaker/promoter Sampson ?Picasso? Lewkowicz were able to convince the WBO to sanction a title shot against Vazquez Jr in Puerto Rico. Donaire told us that should Sonsona maintain his present attitude in training for the Vazquez fight he believes that Sonsona ?can knock him out because of his power.?
Morales who battles WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KO?s) of Mexico on the Top Rank ?Pinoy Power III? fight card at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13 . Morales has trained diligently f or his first shot at a world title and Donaire believes that he has a good chance because of his fearless nature and his willingness to fight, besides the fact that Donaire believes Montiel is ?going down.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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