SONSONA IN MAIN UNDERCARD OF COTTO-MARTINEZ PPV
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 13 May 2014
CEBU ? From an almost forgotten boxing phenom to the top of the world in four months. Marvin Sonsona's life is never wanting of any drama, so it seems. Only last February, Sonsona has been given up for lost ? but a short left uppercut, described by promoter Bob Arum as a punch he has never seen in his more than 50 years in boxing, that zeroed in and flattened Japanese contender Akifumi Shimoda last Feb. 22 in Macau in Sonsona's comeback fight, changed everything.
Now, Sonsona is penciled to face former tormentor Wilfredo Vazquez Jr in the main undercard of the mammoth Miguel Cotto vs Sergio Matinez HBO pay-per-view on June 7 at the very mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden in New York to be potentially viewed by more than a million HBO paying subscribers.
What a leap of billing for Gensan's prodigal son, when, only last September, Sonsona was fighting in a remote town in Cebu in front of a few hundred spectators. And what a leap of setting for the comebacking kid who currently trains at the spartan-like gym of his manager in Quezon City to fight in the glitz and glamour that is New York.
Aside from Manny Pacquiao, there were only few Filipino boxers whose fights were shown on pay-per-view. The Miguel Vazquez vs Mercito Gesta and Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Michael Farenas were shown on HBO PPV on the undercard of Pacquiao-Marquez on Dec. 8, 2012; Rey 'Boom-Boom' Bautista vs Sergio Manuel Medina was the PPV opener of the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight on May 5, 2007; and the Gerry Pe?alosa vs Daniel Ponce de Leon was shown on PPV on the undercard of Marco Antonio Barrera vs Juan Manuel Marquez on March 17, 2007. The Sonsona-Vazquez fight however will be shown just before the Cotto-Martinez main event as a co-feature bout.
Sonsona (18-1-1, 15KO) became the WBO super flyweight world champion at 19 years old in Sep., 2009 by defeating Jose Lopez in Ontario, Canada and defended the title once with a draw against Alejandro Hernandez, also in Canada two months later. Sonsona later vacated the title to move up in weight and fought Wilfredo Vazquez Jr for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title on Feb. 27, 2010 in Puerto Rico where Sonsona was knocked out by Vazquez in the 4th round. Vazquez (23-3-1, 19KO) defended the title twice before losing it to Jorge Arce in May, 2011.
The Sonsona-Vazquez rematch is for the vacant North American Boxing Federation featherweight title.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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