By Ronnie Nathanielsz
“Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona faces a truly tough test when he takes on former WBC Interim light flyweight champion Wandee Singwancha of Thailand in an exciting fight card at the Cebu Coliseum on Thursday, May 28.
Fight fans who packed the coliseum last May 16 to watch AJ “Bazooka” Banal destroy “African Golden Boy” Mbwana Matumla in two rounds and Philippine lightweight champion Jason Pagara rip Indonesia’s welterweight champion Hero Katili in three, are expected to continue the wave of support for promising young fighters on the threshold of international recognition and show up at the coliseum.
Sonsona is undefeated in 12 fights with 11 wins by way of knockouts and is battling Wandee for the vacant WBO Oriental flyweight title. He is coming off a 3rd round TKO of Louie Bantigue, a veteran of 27 fights last May 8, 2009. Sonsona had earlier successfully defended his WBO Asia Pacific Youth title with a 4th round TKO over Thai challenger Liempetch Sor Veerapol on January 31 this year.
Wandee Singwancha, the experienced 29 year old Thai has a record of 57-10-1 with 12 knockouts . He won the WBC Interim light flyweight title beating veteran Filipino southpaw Juanito Rubillar on July 18, 2006 in Bangkok . He is currently ranked No. 12 by the IBF.
However, Wandee suffered a 6th round knockout at the hands of popular Japanese Daiki Kameda whose only loss was to WBC champion Daisuke Naito in his last fight but is hoping to redeem himself by beating Sonsona.
Like Pagara who took a step up to face Katili, Sonsona is doing the same thing and hoping that he could duplicate the 17 year old Pagara’s feat and break into the regional and then the top ten world rankings. Sonsona is currently ranked No. 13 by the WBO and a big win will surely put him into the top ten.
Another intriguing bout should be the clash between world title challenger Pramuansak Posuwan who lost a twelve round decision in a battle for the vacant WBO super flyweight title to Jose “Carita” Lopez last March 28.
Pramuansak who has a record of 45-2-1 with 24 knockouts takes on southpaw Jason Egera who has a record of 10-3 with 5 knockouts and is an accomplished fighter although he got nailed with a picture-perfect punch by undefeated Jundy Maraon (13-0-1, 10 KO’s) last February 21 and was knocked out cold in the third round.
Egera, by all accounts, has recovered from that stunning setback and is determined to prove his worth against the world title challenger Posuwan.
The May 28 fight card will be covered by Viva Sports for its top-rated weekly boxing show “The Main Event” presented by Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum and Pagcor, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and telecast on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. over CS/9 with replays on the cable station Viva Prime over Destiny Cable. The fights involving the Thai boxers will also be beamed “live” to Thailand .
