Sonny Boy Jaro?s disappointing split decision loss last week to Japan?s Toshi-yuki Igarashi which cost him the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title made him the newest member of the ignominious club of ?Flash In The Pan Champions,? Filipino fighters who lost their world titles in the first defense.
What made Jaro?s loss doubly frustrating was the fact that it deprived him of the opportunity to prove that his win over legendary Thai champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam was not a fluke.
A victory would have been Jaro?s passport to respectability as a boxing champion and to bigger purses and a more comfortable life after boxing.
The loss assured him of inclusion in the growing list of derided and despised champions whose reign never went beyond the first title defense.
Roberto Cruz became the first Flash In the Pan champion when March 21, 1963, coming the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as a huge underdog who was not given a chance to win, he knocked down Battling Torres three times in the first round to win the WBA junior welterweight title.
Even Cruz himself could not believe his good fortune. Right after the knockout victory, he started rolling on the ring canvas shouting with joy in wild abandon, stopping only when his handlers propped him up.
Three months later, fighting before the home crowd at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Cruz lost his title in a one-sided 15-round fight against American Eddie Perkins.
The next member of the FITPAC group was Pedro Adigue, Jr., a lumbering junior welterweight fighter from Masbate who decisioned American Adolf Pruitt to win the WBC title at the Araneta Coliseum on December 14, 1968.
For still unknown reasons, Adigue pursued Pruitt in the US and agreed to fight in a non-title bout in Hawaii where he was knocked out in the 5th round on February 18, 1969. In his first defense of the title, Adigue lost by Unanimous Decision to Bruno Arcari in Italy on January 31, 1970.
Following Adigue was junior lightweight Rene Barrientos who won the WBC junior lightweight title by Unanimous Decision over Ruben Navarro in the Araneta Coliseum on Feb. 15, 1969. A little over a year later, in his first defense, he lost to Yoshiaki Numata by Split Decision in Tokyo.
Bernabe Villacampo also became a flash in the pan champion when after winning the WBA flyweight in a 15 Unanimous Decision fight over Hiroyuki Ibehara, he travelled to Thailand and lost the title by split decision to Berkrek Chartvandachai on April 5, 1970.
Then came Frank Cedeno who scored a shocking 6th round KO victory over Briton Charlie Magri at the Wembley Arena in London on September 27, 1983. On January 18, 1984, in a fight that I personally witnessed, Cedeno was knocked out by Japan?s Koji Kobayashi in the second round of the championship bout held at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Bobby Berna, who along with Cedeno were boxers registered with boxing man Jessie Abrea, won the IBF junior featherweight title on December 4, 1983 by a 9th round TKO of Sung In Suh in South Korea. Five months later, on April 15, 1984, Suh turned the tables on Berna and exacted vengeance by knocking out the Filipino champion in the 10th.
Tacy Macalos won the IBF junior flyweight title by Unanimous Decision over South Korea?s Jum Hwan Choi on November 4, 1988 but lost the same title by split decision to Thailand?s Muangchai Kittikasem on May 2, 1989 in Bangkok.
Eric Chavez became the next Filipino world champion after Macalos when he knocked out Indonesia?s Nico Thomas in the 5th round to win the IBF 105 lb. title in Jakarta, Indonesia on September 21, 1989. On February 22, 1990, in a fight which I also witnessed, Eric Chavez, lost the title when the fight was stopped in the 7th because of a cut on the Filipino champion.
Junior flyweight made a big splash in the US boxing scene when he knocked out Humberto Gonzales in the 6th to win the WBC title in Inglewood, California on December 19, 1990. Four months later, on March 25, 1991, he was knocked out in the 10th round by Melchor Cob Castro also in Inglewood and he lost the title in his first defense.
On September 9, 1992, 19-year-old Filipino-American Morris East shocked Japan boxing when he knocked out Akinobu Hiranaka in the 11th to win the WBA junior welterweight title in Tokyo. Five months later, in his first defense in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Morris East lost the title to Juan Martin Coggi by TKO in the 8th.
On September 6, 1992, Manny Melchor won the title that Eric Chavez lost when he outpointed Fahlan Sakkreerin in Bangkok. Four months later, in a title defense held in Bangkok, Melchor lost the title by split decision to Ratanapol Sor Vorapin.
On December 19, 1997, Eric Jamili scored another upset for the Filipino fighters when he knocked out Mickey Cantwell in the 8th in London to win the WBO 105 title. But Jamili lost this title by a 5th round TKO to Kermin Guardia on April 30, 1998 in Las Vegas.
Perhaps, the most ridiculed Flash In The Pan champion was young Marvin Sonsona, who was barely 20 when he won the WBO 115lbs title by Unanimous Decision over the veteran Jose Lopez on September 4, 2009 in Canada. He immediately became the darling of Canadian boxing and he was touted to become another big star in Philippine boxing.
But Sonsona was not able to resist the temptations which usually are presented to new world boxing champions. He got hooked with booze, and reportedly even drugs.
In his first defense of the title, also in Canada, an out of shape Sonsona failed to make the 115lbs weight limit. The title was declared vacant after he and Mexican Alejandro Hernandez fought to a draw.
Honestly, some of these champions could have won in their first defense and could have become big names in Philippine boxing. But many of them fought their first title defenses in hostile territory and many of them became victims of hometown decisions.
