The remarkable power of the skinny 19 year old, newly crowned WBO super flyweight champion “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona by his own admission, shocked former champion Jose “Carita” Lopez of Puerto Rico.
Sonsona, banking on a 4th round knockdown and one point deduction slapped on Lopez for low blows went on to score a dramatic twelve round unanimous decision at Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada last Saturday, Manila Time.
In an interview with El Nuevo Dia reported by boxing writer Mark Vester, Lopez said “ He (Sonsona) surprised me that he hit so hard. Especially the power of his left hand. I didn’t expect that. I’m sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I lost the title, but happy because it was a great fight and we gave a great show to the fans.”
The 38 year old Lopez who won the world title the hard way on his fifth attempt has been fighting for the past 18 years which means he began as a pro when Sonsona was a mere one year old. But the former champion has no plans of hanging up his gloves until he reaches the age of 40 at least.
Lopez recalled that the cracking Sonsona left that dropped him in the fourth round was so hard that he still felt the buzz for the rest of the fight.
He said “I felt that blow for the remainder of the fight. I was winning that round [fourth], but I did not see that left hand. When we began the fifth, I still had weak legs. I pressured him, I did him more than I was able to and he could not knock me out. But those two points of the fourth and the other two point round where the referee took a point from me (low blows), it affected me since it is very difficult to win a decision when you are down by four points.”
However, like a true champion Lopez offered no alibis saying “ I do not have any excuses.”
Lopez indicated he would like a rematch but doubts the fight will happen since Canada’s Allan Trembley has announced that he plans to bring Sonsona back sometime in November that will also hopefully feature Canada’s former world champion Steve Molitor in a title fight. Molitor scored a 4th round TKO over Argentine veteran Dario Azuaga in a scheduled eight round bout. Azuaga is the same fighter who lost a lopsided decision to former two division world champion Gerry Penalosa at the Ynares Center in Antipolo some years ago.
As f or Lopez he said he is going to try to get fights with Jorge Arce and Nonito Donaire. He said “I would like a rematch but that is not in my hands since there was no mandatory rematch clause. But there are other options and what can be something negative can sometimes bring positive things. There are boxers who perhaps did not dare to fight with me and now they can think that they can.”
