Sonsona taking the same route as Pacquiao’s?

With reigning pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao about to hang up his gloves in a year or two, the question that nags is: Will there be another "Pacman"? If you ask matchmaker-turned promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, there’s a 19-year-old prospect also from General Santos City who’s got the tremendous potential to fill in Pacquiao’s big shoes. He is Marvin “Marvelous" Sonsona, who is set to challenge WBO super-flyweight champion Jose “Carita" Lopez of Puerto Rico on Sept. 4 in Ontario, Canada. "We have here an excellent young boxer who is full of life and is undefeated in 13 fights. On September 4 in Casino Rama in Canada, Marvin ‘Marvelous' Sonsona will become a world champion," Lewkowicz declared during Saturday’s official announcement of the fight that coincided with the Filipino’s 19th birthday celebration. Like Pacquiao Lewkowicz even sees a parallelism between Sonsona’s situation now and Pacquiao’s condition in 2001. Back then, handlers of the yet-to-be-discovered Pacquiao asked Lewkowicz to help them get the “Pacman" a fight in the US after getting rejected by major promoters, including his current stable Top Rank. "Eight years after, I'm in the same situation. Sonsona was presented to me and I offered him to big promoters who also rejected him. Maybe God works in very mysterious ways. In 2001 we have Manny Pacquiao and in 2009 we have Sonsona who is future of Philippine boxing," he said. The elements of fate aside, Sonsona brings with him the talent and power that could propel him to boxing immortality. He is undefeated in 13 fights, knocking out all but one of his rivals. Among his foes, only Richard Donaire, a cousin of The Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, Jr. lasted the distance (four rounds) in Sonsona’s first pro fight on July 7, 2007. In his last fight, Sonsona hacked out a two-round TKO of former interim WBC light flyweight champion Wandee Singwancha to win the vacant WBO Oriental flyweight title before a highly-appreciative crowd at the Cebu Coliseum last May 28. No easy sailing It won’t be easy sailing for “Marvelous" though as the 29-year-old Lopez is a veteran of 48 fights, winning 39 of them including 32 by stoppage. "I took us some time before we decided to take the fight. Some of us felt that it was too early for Sonsona to face a tough opponent like Lopez," said promoter Sammy Gello-anni. "But we also took into consideration his and the opponent's style and their age. We also took into consideration his performance in his last fight against a former champion (Singwancha). If he can dispose a former world champion like that, we believe he can duplicate that performance against Lopez." Lopez, who agreed to take on Sonsona after turning down offers to fight Donaire and Vic Darchinyan, will defend the WBO super-flyweight belt he won last March 28 when he scored a unanimous decision over Pramuansak Posuwan in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Sonsona vowed to go all-out to live up to the hype and win the title. "We have studied how he fights and we are now devising our plan for this fight. I promise to give my best and do everything for this fight so as not to put to waste the efforts and support of my manager and supporters," Sonsona, a former Batang Pinoy gold medalist in boxing, said in Pilipino. Helping whip Sonsona into tip top shape is trainer Jun Abrabio. Sonsona has sparred a total of 60 rounds to date and he is set to intensify training by mid-August in Canada. - GMANews.TV