Sonsona’s weight woes bring back memories of a young Pacquiao

Considered "the next Manny Pacquiao," young champ Marvin Sonsona shares the same weight woes that a growing-up Pacman once struggled with. Sonsona lost his WBO super flyweight title to the scales right on his first defense, coming in 2.6 lbs over the 115-lb limit. His Mexican challenger Alejandro Hernandez tipped exactly 115 lbs. As a result, the WBO forced 19-year-old fighter from General Santos City to vacate the title. The fight, though, would proceed as scheduled Saturday night at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada (Sunday noon in Manila) but a Sonsona win would render the title vacant while a Hernandez triumph would make him the new champion. Sonsona’s problems with the scales brought back memories of Pacquiao’s 1999 experience as a flyweight champion for the WBC. Then 19, Pacquiao tried to lose excess pounds but still went over the 112-lb ceiling to yield the crown, the first in his record seven-division collection. Pacquiao climbed the ring dehydrated and got knocked out in three rounds by Thai Medgeon Singsurat, the second in his illustrious career. From there, the Pacman moved up in weight and began his ascension as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. Unlike Pacquiao, though, the unbeaten Sonsona (14-0, 12 KOs) did not force himself to meet the contractual weight, his training team deciding against making him dehydrated and putting him at further risk come fight night. It also appears that the Sonsona camp, apparently taking a page from the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. book, would want to protect the young fighter’s clean slate. Mayweather, in his last fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, exceed the contractual weight but went on to thoroughly dominate the Mexican in the actual fight and keep his spotless record.
“Nakakalungkot na nagkaganito (Sonson checking in overweight)," analyst Al Mendoza said in an interview with DzBB. According to Mendoza, two things immediately came to his mind upon learning the news. “Nagpabaya kaya siya (Sonsona) sa timbang? Yun ang unang iisipin mo dahil yun ang unang inisip ng tao kay Pacquiao nung 1999. Nalango kaya sa tagumpay? Hindi naman sana," he said. “Pangalawang aspeto diyan yung baka nga dahil sa edad niya, hirap siya sa timbang, patuloy kasi siyang lumalaki," he added. Sonsona’s camp, indeed, has plans to move the ex-champ up in weight and give him a shot at a second division title. His promoter Allan Tremblay bared that since Sonsona could no longer stay in the 115-lb wars, he would climb to the 122-lb division after the Hernandez bout. "He's a young guy exploding into a man," Tremblay was quoted after Saturday's weigh-in (Sunday morning in Manila) by Canadian-based news site The Star. When a Friday night workout only got him to 117 lbs, Tremblay decided to forfeit the title rather than try something drastic to make weight. "He could have drained himself down to 115, but after six rounds he would have been a depleted fighter," he said. "Why kill him? Why take a possible loss when we have another plan for him anyway?" Sonsona won the WBO 115-lb belt after beating veteran Jose Lopez via unanimous decision last September. - Olmin R. Leyba, GMANews.TV