TWO FILIPINOS — Marvin “Marvelous” Sonsona and Rodel “Batang Mandaue” Mayol — will step into the ring on Sunday at different venues, both eyeing to give glory to the country.
Sonsona, hailed as the Philippines’ next Manny Pacquiao, goes up against hometown bet Wilfredo “WV2” Vazquez, Jr. for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight championship at the Reben Rodriquez Coliseum in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Mayol (26-4-1, 20 KOs), meanwhile, will defend his World Boxing Council light flyweight championship belt in a 12-round main event against WBC no. 1 contender and former WBC light flyweight titlist Omar “Giant Killer” Nino (28-3-1, 20 KOs) in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“My promoter (Sampson Lewkowicz) wanted me to take this fight because I have a big chance to win the title,” said the 19-year-old Sonsona. “It’s a good opportunity for me to get a championship belt back. I’ve trained hard for this fight and we’ve studied his (Vazquez) weaknesses. He makes a lot of mistakes. This fight is very important to me, especially being on pay-per-view in North America. I want to make up for what happened in Canada and win another world title. I’m hungry and focused on this fight. I’m hungry like a tiger.
“Manny is Manny. It’s hard following in his footsteps but all I can be is my best and, hopefully, bring another world title home. Fighting in his (Vasquez) hometown doesn’t bother me. The officials will be fair and I have a lot of Puerto Rican fans, too. I’m not sure if it’ll end in a knockout, but it’s going to be a very good fight.”
Sonsona fought Alejandro Hernandez to a draw last November in Canada. Marvin, however, lost the WBO super flyweight title that he had won in his previous fight against Jose Lopez, after weighing in 2 12 pounds over the 115-pound contractual weight.
Sonsona skipped two weight classes above super flyweight to fight Vasquez. — MB
