‘Marvelous effort’

By Edri K. Aznar



IT’S not only Manny Pacquiao who will be in a world title fight this month.

The 18-year-old “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona, who is also from Gen. Santos City, but is now based in Cebu is gearing up for the first defense of his World Boxing Organization super flyweight champion Marvin Sonsona against former world title challenger Alejandro Hernandez on Nov. 21 at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada.

“He’s ready to go. I can say that he’s 100 percent,” Nonito Donaire Sr., who acts as Sonsona’s coach along with Jun Agrabrio, told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview yesterday.

"The Manny Pacquiao Blog". Click here for stories and updates on the Filipino boxing champ.

The 18-year-old Sonsona did 10 rounds of sparring and two rounds of punch mitts yesterday at the IPI Gym in Mandaue City.

Donaire Sr. and Agrabio have been working on Sonsona’s battle plan for Hernandez and they’re opting for Sonsona to fight a chess game.

“I saw him fight once in the US, he has no power but is slippery. He always moves that’s why we’ll just wait and counterpunch,” said Donaire Sr.

Athough Hernandez has never been knocked out in his career, Donaire Sr. is confident that Sonsona is capable of stopping the 23-year-old Mexican.

Your Ad Here

“If Marvin catches him, there’s a huge chance that he’ll get knocked out,” said the famed Filipino trainer and father of interim World Boxing Association super flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire Jr.

Sonsona, who won the WBO title from veteran banger Jose Lopez just last September, has a perfect record of 14 wins and 12 knockouts, while Hernadez is 22-7-1 with 11 knockouts.

Donaire Sr. will be leaving tomorrow for a stopover in Las Vegas before going to Canada.

He will be in the corner of veteran journeyman Federico Catubay when he faces Mexican Juan Alberto Rosas in an International Boxing Federation super flyweight title eliminator on Nov. 13 at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, a day before the much -anticipated bout between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Donaire Sr. will then skip the Pacquiao-Cotto fight because he will be leaving for Toronto on the same night.

Sonsona and Agrabio will be leaving this Saturday for Canada and will have their media workout this Sunday.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 12, 2009.