Sonsona leaves for the U.S with Donaire Sr. & Morales tonight

“Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona (14-0-1, 12 O’s) leaves for San Francisco tonight (Wednesday in Manila) along with Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales (14-0, 8 KO’s) and trainer Nonito Donaire Sr after their flights had to be postponed on two occasions when Sonsona failed to take a flight from his hometown of General Santos City to Manila.

Well known promoter Sammy G ello-ani who has handled the career of Sonsona traveled to GenSan to pick up Sonsona and accompany him to Manila to make sure he keeps his commitment for the February 27 title fight against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (17-0-1, 14 KO’s) in Puerto Rico.

A somewhat relieved Gello-ano told us that the Puerto Rican promoters had spent a lot of money to build-up the super bantamweight title fight and had what Gello-ani said was “a very important press conference” on January 14 and that “everybody wanted to see him (Sonsona) there.”

Gello-ani said Morales who faces WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KO’s) in a title fight on the “Pinoy Power III” Top Rank Promotions card at the Las Vegas Hilton was arriving in Manila from Cebu along with trainer Nonito Donaire at 6:30 p.m. and would be joined by Sonsona on the Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco where they will train at the Kennel Boxing Gym.

Gello-ani said he is flying to San Francisco on Sunday and will accompany Sonsona to Puerto Rico for the press conference after which the former WBO super flyweight champion who lost his title in his first defense when he failed to make the weight in his November 21 bout against Mexico’s Alejandro Hernandez at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada. However, since the fight ended in a d raw the title remains vacant.

Gello-ani claimed that the 19 year old Sonsona was immature and still wanted to enjoy life and that his parents reportedly couldn’t control him.

Gello-ani said he needs time to mature and said “I hope he will mature after a year or even after this fight” because he is a talented fighter.

When we cited the maturity shown by newly crowned WBO light flyweight interim champion Johnreil Casimiro who scored a stunning 11th round knockout over highly fancied Cesar Canchlla recently, Gello-ani pointed out that the “family background was different who back him up, make sure he has good training while in the case of Sonsona his father cannot control him. That’s why I went to GenSan just to let him (Sonsona)know that this fight is very important.”

We had a chance to talk to Sonsona and advised him to take his career seriously and to make use of the opportunities given him. While he thanked us f or our concern Sonsona said he was “okay and will train hard for the fight” adding “I can do it.”

Source: Ronnie Nathanielsz  | PhilBoxing

Sonsona fails to leave again

"Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona failed to once again leave for the United States to begin training for his WBO super bantamweight title fight against undefeated Wilfredo Vazquez Jr set for February 27 in Puerto Rico.

He was supposed to fly to Manila from his hometown of General Santos City on Sunday to join Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales and Nonito Donaire Sr on a flight to San Francisco but their departure was called off after Sonsona, for unknown reasons failed to take the flight from GenSan.

Promoter Sammy Gello-ani who worked hard along with international matchmaker/promoter Sampson “Picasso” Lewkowicz to get Sonsona the title shot after he lost his WBO super flyweight title when he failed to make the weight in his first defense at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada last November 21, traveled to GenSan via Davao on Sunday to meet with Sonsona and his parents to find out what was wrong.

Latest word is that his father said there was no family problem as earlier rumored while his mother said on Monday that Gello-ani had bought a ticket for Sonsona who would hopefully leave for Manila on Tuesday and catch a connecting flight to Los Angeles where he and Morales are supposed to train at the Kennel Gym in San Francisco.

Morales faces WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel in a title fight on the “Pinoy Power III” card at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13 which will be telecast in the Philippines by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN which recently signed a two-year output deal with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.

www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports learned that when Sonsona was asked why he wasn’t training and why he didn’t leave as scheduled, he provided no answer even as he indicated he doesn’t pay any attention to criticism of his attitude.

All efforts to contact Gello-ani proved futile while Nonito Donaire Sr who continues to work hard with Morales at the IPI Gym in Mandaue said if Sonsona is not ready to fight then he would prefer continuing to train Morales in Cebu and leave for Las Vegas about two weeks before his title fight against Montiel.

Donaire said Morales was looking good and coming along nicely and he has high hopes for the young fighter.

Source: Ronnie Nathanielsz  | PhilBoxing

Ex-champ Sonsona poised to regain lost glory

Instead of sulking over his brief reign as world champion, Filipino youngster Marvin Sonsona is poised to bounce back and win a second title, this time at a heavier weight division.

The 19-year-old Sonsona, who lost the WBO super flyweight belt when he weighed in 2.6-lbs over the limit in his first defense, is penciled to vie for the vacant WBO junior featherweight crown against Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. on Feb. 27 at the latter’s turf, Puerto Rico.

According to Sonsona’s promoter Sammy Gello-ani, the pride of General Santos City is in high spirits before leaving for the US to train for the title bout with Vasquez Jr., son and namesake of the former three-division world champion.

“The team believes that Marvin will rebound in his next fight, like Manny Pacquiao moving up in weight to be a better boxer than ever," Gello-ani said in an interview with PhilBoxing.Com, referring to Pacquiao’s ascent after losing his first title to the scales early in his career.

Sonsona won raves when he captured the WBO 115-division strap via a 12-round unanimous decision win over veteran Jose Lopez in Ontario, Canada last September, in the process becoming the second youngest Filipino after Morris East to win a world title.

But an overweight Sonsona yielded the crown just 77 days later, the shortest ever reign for a Filipino champion. Roberto Cruz previously held the dubious record of 86 days as a junior welterweight kingpin in 1963.

Despite losing the battle of the scales, though, Sonsona kept his unbeaten record intact after escaping with a draw against Alejandro Hernandez.

Sonsona (14-0-1, 12 KO) is moving up two weight classes for the Vasquez fight.

“Marvin will be better without being dehydrated (trying to meet the super flyweight limit). That’s what we’re looking at and we believe his natural weight should be at 122-lbs," Gello-ani said.

And without weight woes, Team Sonsona is confident the young fighter will be at his best against Vasquez (17-0-1, 14 KO).

“We truly believe that Sonsona will be a world champion again, his talent is extra-ordinary when he is fit to fight. Come Feb. 27th, we will be taking the belt home to our country," the promoter added.

Sonsona will hold training camp at the Kennel Boxing Gym in San Leandro, California under trainer Nonito Donaire, Sr.

Source: Author Unkown  | gmanews.tv

Marvin Sonsona Goes For More Records

Former WBO superflyweight champ Marvin Sonsona will move up two divisions higher and face Wilfredo Vasquez,Jr. of Puerto Rico for the vacant WBO superbantamweight world title.

If Sonsona beats Vasquez on February 17, 2010, he will be the youngest Filipino in history to win two world titles at two different weight divisions at 19 years, six months and 23 days. Vasquez however, will have the home court advantage.

The 25 year old Vasquez, (17 W (KO 14) – L 0- D 1) won the WBO interim superbantamweight belt with an 8th round TKO over Adolfo Landeros in 2008. A familiar name on his resume is Jose Angel Beranza who he beat by unanimous decision March last year. This is the same Beranza that lost by 10 round unanimous decision to AJ Banal in Hawaii last August.

Vasquez’ father, Wilfredo,Sr. had an excellent pro career winning three titles in three different weight divisions –WBA bantamweight, WBA jr. featherweight and WBA featherweight.

This will be the first time that Sonsona will fight in his opponent’s home turf. Sonsona has fought in Canada twice in his previous overseas outings, beating Puerto Rico’s Jose Lopez by 12 round unanimous decision for the WBO 115lb world crown and enduring a split 12 round draw with Alejandro Hernandez of Mexico in his first defense after losing his title at the scales.

Sonsona (14W-0L-1D, 12 KO’s) became the toast of Philippine boxing last September when he became the second youngest Philippine world boxing titlist after Morris East. But he set an inglorious record when during the weigh-in of his first defense he was 2.6 lbs over the superflyweight limit and had to be stripped of his title.

Sonsona’s reign lasted 77 days breaking the previous record of 86 days of junior welterweight Roberto Cruz in 1963.

But Quinito Henson brought up an obscure but very interesting fact in his popular Philippine Star sports column a couple of months ago wherein he cited Miguel Arrozal winning a lightweight title for the little known WBB or World Boxing Board in 1988 and reigned for only 70 days.

This detail however, did not save Sonsona from scorn. There were harsh repercussions from boxing fans and the sports media. Being another hard hitting southpaw from Gen. Santos City has its advantages. But it also carries with it the burden of expectations and the long shadow of Manny Pacquiao especially when it comes to work ethic during training.

Nonito Donaire,Sr. will train Sonsona in the U.S. together with Ciso Morales who will be gunning for the WBO bantamweight title of Fernando Montiel. Sonsona’s original trainer Jun Agrabio will once again join forces with Donaire,Sr. in whipping Marvin back to his usual fighting form.

Agrabio said that he will try his best, together with Donaire to push Sonsona and bring his focus back. Donaire, Morales and Sonsona will be going ahead and Agrabio will join them once he gets his U.S. visa.

Donaire said they will leave on January 3 and will train at the Kennel Boxing Gym at San Leandro, California.

Sonsona winning a second title will make him set another another Philippine record – the shortest route between losing and winning another world title at 2 months and 27 days. He would be very lucky considering that Pacquiao had to wait one year and nine months after losing his WBC flyweight crown to fight for the IBF junior featherweight title.

For Filipino boxers winning or regaining a title in the same weight division, in 1973 Ben Villaflor lost his WBA junior lightweight to Kuniaki Shibata by 15 round unanimous decision but beat him by first round KO in a rematch seven months later.

Sonsona is fortunate than most Filipino boxers. He won world title in his 14th pro fight. But he has to realize and appreciate the value of a world title. He is an extremely talented boxer, but talent and fame are fleeting. Reaching the pinnacle and staying there are two different things.

Source: Rene Bonsubre, Jr.  PhilBoxing