CAN SONSONA SILENCE THE SCEPTICS TONIGHT?
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 15 Oct 2011
Team Jacobo drew some attention inside a local pharmacy here in Cebu City Tuesday night. Together with fellow boxing scribe Carlos Costa and the ever-ready cornerman for Latino fighters, Mike Lopez, we accompanied Carlos Jacobo and his trainer Miguel Angel Meza Salazar, who wanted to buy some vitamins.
The pharmacists and some customers overheard the conversation in Spanish and got curious.
?This guy is fighting Marvin Sonsona this Saturday,? I pointed to Jacobo.
?Sonsona?he?s very good, the Mexican is in trouble.? ,a male pharmacist remarked.
That got me thinking - this guy remembers the Sonsona of 2009 not the one who lost in Puerto Rico and went missing for almost twenty months.
Team Jacobo, together with Promoter Sammy Gello-ani, Sonsona and this writer arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Wednesday noon for the Makati City press conference. The airport security personnel recognized Sonsona and wished him luck.
After the Greenbelt presscon, Sonsona and Jacobo joked around with the restaurant employees and acted like close friends even if they had a hard time trying to understand what the other was trying to say. But I guess boxers who respect each other don?t have to exhibit animosity.
Entering the NAIA for our trip back to Cebu Wednesday night, the people in-charge of airport security recognized the duo.
?Upakan mo na yan, Marvin?
?I-knockout mo yan.? They waved and yelled at Sonsona, asking him to beat and knockout the Mexican. The airport personnel in Cebu recognized him when he arrived.
Was it because of the TV commercials? Or do people still remember that glorious September day in Canada when a nineteen year old Gensan southpaw with only 13 fights, who has never gone past the fifth round, beat a Puerto Rican champion who was 18 years his senior and a veteran of 48 fights?
That day was simply too marvellous for words.
Will Sonsona reach those heights again?
He will have to do something spectacular to quite the doubters come fight time at the Hoops Dome.
One burning question is whether he has power at his present weight; Sonsona has not scored a knockout since he moved from 112 to 115 lbs, and he lost his only fight at 122.
Twenty months is a long time away from the ring. He has been evasive about the details as to why he left and what he was doing but he did say he came back on his own free will. His mental state and toughness is also a big question mark.
He remains a recognizable and potentially marketable figure. Tonight,it will be up to Sonsona if he wants it to stay that way.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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