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Philippines, 12 Feb 2026 |
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Marvin Sonsona Makes History -- First Pinoy Boxer to Win A Championship in Canada By Rob Cruz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 06 Sep 2009  RAMA, ONTARIO -- Friday night, I witnessed something special. I saw a young promising boxer who, some misunderstood, win his very first championship belt at the tender age of nineteen at Casino Rama. Don't let his age fool you bacause his performance in the ring tonight was performance that you see from more experienced boxers who are much much older than Marvin Sonsona. For 12 full rounds, both Sonsona and Lopez were relentless and fought a brawl that will go down in history. Furthermore, the number of Filipinos in the crowd were apperent as they came from smaller groups to bus loads from local tour operators destined for Orilla, that it almost looks like a Mini Vegas crowd touring througout the Casino Rama complex. Early in the fight, you can hear that the fan favorite was Lopez around me while some fans mocked Marvin. The tide quickly changed. From the first round, both fighters exchanged after sizing each other up, the way Marvin lunges in, will remind you of you know who... exchanges of power punches came back and forth. Marvin clearly used his height and reach advance to drop some bombs on Lopez thoughout the fight. You should have been there when Lopez got dropped in the fourth round, many jaws dropped and the auditorium echoed with ahhwws. Marvin thought that he could get Lopez into more serious trouble after dropping him as he commented at the presser. However Lopez demonstrated why he was the champ, he was able to skillfully penerate through Sonsona defence with head and body combos who left himself open at times when he looked hurt and tired with his hands down. The youngster showed Lopez how durable his chin was even though he needed to slow down in the middle rounds to recover. Some lowblows where also thrown by Lopez more than a few times during the fight and was penalized once. I asked Marvin during the post presser why he didn't take any time to recover after sevaral low blows and he commented no matter how much it hurt, I needed to go on and fight no matter how much it hurts which was clearly displayed on his face. I believe that this is where Marvin found out within himself that he has the heart of a Champion... finding the will to go on when it counts most when the odds are against you. Marvin and Lopez exchanged a barrage of punches in bunches in the latter rounds with Marvin getting the best of Jose but he couldn't put him down anymore. When the fight ended, fans around me said Sonsona was brillant and outperformed Lopez, the judges proved them right by declaring Marvin as the winner by UD. Marvin, today you got the seasoning that you needed in the ring and won the belt. Now you have the time on your side to incorporate more ring savvy that will be instrumental when defending that belt. You demonstrated that you will have a very promising boxing career and you surely wrote your own destiny tonight. One last note, thank you Jose Carita Lopez for this fight, I saw how heartbroken you were in the ring and when we bumped into each other after the fight. You certainly gave Marvin a handful and hopefully you'll be back real soon. Top photo: Sonsona (R) connects with a right at Lopez's jaw during Friday night's world championship bout at Casino Rama in Ontario. Sonsona carries the flags of the Philippines and Canada after the bout.  Personalities behind the success of Sonsona (L-R) Wife of Sonsona's manager Dr. Rajan Yraola, WBO Vice-President Leon Panoncillo, promoter Sammy Gello-ani and matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz at ringside during Friday night's fight. Photos by Rob Cruz. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rob Cruz.  |
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