By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Philippine super flyweight champion Eden Sonsona claims he was the victim of a bum decision in his battle for the vacant Orient Pacific Boxing Federation title against Japan’s Kohei Kono who won a split decision at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Saturday.
Both Sonsona and Gerry Garcia who belongs to the "In This Corner" team that handles the 18 year old southpaw claimed that the Korean referee was very partial to Kono who resorted to foul tactics but was never penalized.
In an interview with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today, Sonsona said he dropped Kono with a left straight in the first round but the referee didn’t count claiming it was a slip while he allowed the Japanese whom he described as "a dirty fighter" to get away with head- butting, low blows and the use of his elbows. Sonsona said he suffered a cut below his left eye in round four because of a head-butt which, according to Garcia, affected him.
Garcia reported that the Japanese judge scored it for Kono which, according to boxrec.com was a lopsided 118-110 while the Korean referee/judge also scored it for Kono 115-113 while Filipino judge Virgilio Garcia had Sonsona the winner115-113. Garcia said it was a give-and-take fight and he sincerely believed Sonsona deserved to win the title.
With the win the 26 year old Kono improved to 20-3 with 7 knockouts while Sonsona dropped to 12-2 with 2 knockouts.
Sonsona said "if the fight was held in Manila, we would have surely won" because the Japanese would have been penalized for his foul tactics. He said Kono was "not such a good fighter but was crafty and dirty."
