MAYOL was given a deduction for the headbutt which was ruled as unintentional. A few seconds later, the fight continued with Sosa visibly bothered by the clash of heads.
Nonetheless he proceeded to fight well and gallantly defend against the charging Mayol. But the latter would not be denied. Apparently fed up with missing his date with destiny time and again, Mayol proved relentless in his attacks.
Batang Mandaue scored with a big left hook followed by a right hand and Sosa fell on the seat of his pants. He got up but Mayol was upon him like a man possessed.
After backing up Sosa against the ropes, Mayol pounced and unleashed two left uppercuts which left the Mexican champion reeling. A follow-up flurry punctuated his superiority which left the ref with no other choice but to stop the carnage.
Sosa bitterly complained and later filed a protest. Apparently, he suffered a triple fracture on his cheekbone, but the WBC ruled in favor of Mayol.
COMPARISON. This tale of two champions marks the difference between complacency and persistence.
Many reasons have been advanced for Sonsona’s failure to make the weight—most notably the fact that he is a growing kid and may in fact be outgrowing his division.
Maybe. But some young champions do not outgrow their division in two month’s time. However, if you chose to, you most certainly can eat your way out of it.
THE FLASH. Take the case of Nonito “The Flash” Donaire. He was already a super flyweight before he moved down to challenge IBF flyweight champ Vic Darchinyan.
After blasting away the brash champion in five rounds, he maintained his weight for his division for four fights spanning two and a half years.
Nonito told me that it was killing him to make the weight. He was in his mid 20’s and still filling out, but he did it anyway.
Perhaps Marvin was overwhelmed by the attention he got. Perhaps his team forgot to put strict tabs on their fighter’s diet. Perhaps he had an injury. Whatever the reason, let’s hope that Team Sonsona has learned the valuable lesson.
I’m not writing Marvin off just yet. Maybe he’s just going through a Manny Pacquiao stage of this career. The one where a weight-drained 21-year-old Manny lost the WBC flyweight title to Medgoen Singsuat.
But Manny moved up and became a better fighter. Is this a case of history repeating itself?
PACQUIAO FACTOR. Mayol is one lucky guy. He gets title shot after title shot. Z Gorres, AJ Banal and countless others had to wait in line after failing to snag the big one.
Not Rodel. After two consecutive but uneventful title bouts against Ivan Calderon, he gets another chance and it’s even for a more prestigious, widely recognized WBC diadem.
Of course, it probably helps a lot that he’s got the promotional muscle of MP Promotions behind him. In case you failed to notice, Manny Pacquiao is not just our “Pambansang Kamao.” He’s also one of the most influential persons in boxing right now.
His promotional outfit is reaping the gains of their flagship fighter’s amazing achievements, similar to what Golden Boy Productions has capitalized on after Oscar de la Hoya’s exploits.
That’s where our tale ends. A tale of two fighters. One beset by complacency and probably overwhelmed by events, the other aided by luck and buoyed by persistence.
Indeed, chance favors those who are prepared.
10K. Guess what? Thanks to my brother Ramsey, I’m the latest victim of the running bug currently gripping our metropolis.
And after agonizingly slogging my way through my first 10K and needing a heart defibrillator at the finish, I have a renewed respect for the fighters that I write about.
The 10K is just a morning stroll for these guys. The real hard training comes only after the run.
LAST ROUND. It’s on all the Mayols out there. Let’s have one big clan reunion, invite our very own world champion and make him shoulder all the last rounds. Burp!
