MEPRANUM, SONSONA BEING LINED UP FOR TITLE FIGHTS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 16 Mar 2010
Flyweight Richie Mepranum and Philippine bantamweight champion Eden Sonsona, fresh from smashing victories over solid opponents last weekend in Dallas, Texas are being lined-up for world title fights in the near future.
Both fighters who are being handled by pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and his adviser Michael Koncz looked sensational in defeating separate opponents on Friday and Saturday and Koncz said both fighters are ready to move up for title shots.
He said Mepranum, who outclassed Mexico’s previously undefeated KO specialist Hernan “Tyson” Marquez who had a record of 27-0 with 20 knockout victories, said he had been informed by the WBO that Mepranum who was ranked No. 11 behind Marquez who was rated No. 9 would battle one of the top-rated contender “for the WBO title because the champion (Omar Narvaez of Argentina) is going to move up in weight but that’s not been confirmed in writing yet.”
Koncz also told us that Eden Sonsona, the prot?g? of the late Rod Nazario, business manager and father-figure to Pacquiao who is being managed by Nazario’s son Rommel, “can’t get a fight against Fernando Montiel since the WBO champion is fighting in Japan for a lot of money.”
Montiel battles WBA champion Hozumi Hasegawa on April 30 in Tokyo. However, since the Japan Boxing Commission up to now does not recognize the WBO, Montiel’s title will not be on the line. The WBO may, because of Montiel's decision to fight for the WBA title may opt to declare the WBO title vacant.
Koncz said that they plan to “get Sonsona another tough fight because we know he is capable of doing it and then we’ll set up a championship fight after that.” He said “we have to get him a fight along the way because I don’t want him to be idle.”
The southpaw who comes from General Santos City, the hometown of Pacquiao, scored a devastating 8th round knockout over former world champion Mauricio Pastrana of Colombia after first dropping him in the third round.
Koncz and Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza were ecstatic over the performance of both fighters. They said the knockout by Sonsona resembled the brutal 2nd round knockout scored by Pacquiao over Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton with Pastrana out cold and the referee not even bothering to count.
Ariza who watched the Mepranum fight at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine on the eve of the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight said “it was one of the most exciting fights I’ve seen in a long, long time. Mepranum’s relentlessness, what a phenomenal chin he had because he took some big shots and he showed that true what I call Filipino mentality. He got caught but just kept coming forward despite the fact that ‘Tyson” was a tremendous puncher. Richie was just taking big shots and was giving him.”
Ariza told us that Mepranum is still very young but “if he was a little bit older and he would get stronger I am convinced 100 percent he would have knocked him (Marquez) out. What a heart.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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