Filipino teenager Marvin Sonsona won a unanimous points decision to take the WBO junior bantamweight title from veteran Puerto Rican Jose ‘Carita’ Lopez.
Aged 19 years and five weeks, southpaw Sonsona became the second-youngest world champion from the Phillipines with victory at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada.
Sonsona’s previous 12 fights were won by knock-out but this time the 37-year-old made him go the distance, although scorecards of 114-111, 115-110 and 116-109 hinted at the youngster’s dominance, which heightened as the bout progressed.
It was Lopez’s first defence of the belt and Sonsona’s debut title fight.
Lopez won the then-vacant WBO belt by beating Pramuansak Posuwan in March, having previously lost four WBO title fights.
Sonsona is unbeaten as a professional.
