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Puerto Rico vs. The Philippines: three months, three title fights. Round 1 starts Friday night!
By Luis Torres (03-Sep-2009)
Luis Torres examines the red hot rivalry developing between Puerto Rico and the Philippines as three title fights happening in the next three months pit these two nations against each other at boxing’s world championship level!
Lopez vs. Sonsona / Photo: Ivan Montiel
Friday, September 4, kick starts an unusual three-month period in which three Pinoy fighters will be challenging for world titles against Boricua champions. Manny Pacquiao’s battles against the most recent crop of Mexican greats ignited a national boxing rivalry between the Philippines and Mexico that has claimed a spot for the Philippines in discussions about boxing power houses. Is Puerto Rico next?
There have been very few notable title fights involving Puerto Rico and the Philippines with Puerto Rico holding a comfortable lead on the scorecards. Puerto Rican hall-of-famer Carlos Ortiz’ two knockout wins over late Filipino great Flash Elorde, Samuel Serrano’s win and draw against Ben Villaflor, Nelson Dieppa’s explosive 11th-round KO over Andy Tabanas, Ivan Calderon’s eighth-round KO over Noel Tunacao, Juan Manuel Lopez’ 10th-round stoppage over Gery Penalosa and most recently Ivan Calderon’s technical draw against Rodel Mayol all combine for a 6-0-2 (5 KOs) record in favour of the Caribbean warriors. Can this new group led by pound-for-pound ruler Manny Paquiao turn the tide?
Round 1 of three matches 37-year-old veteran Jose ‘Carita’ Lopez 39-7-0 (32 KOs) against 19-year-old rising prospect Marvin Sonsona 13-0 (12 KOs). It has been a rough journey for Lopez who has the distinction of having won his first world title in his fifth attempt. The experienced and powerful boxer-puncher has been on an impressive run since his last loss in 2001, a title fight in which he managed to score a knockdown over defending champion Fernando Montiel.
During this time, Lopez worked his way up in the rankings the old way. He has compiled a 15-0-1 (8 KOs) record including a mild upset knockout over Dominican young gun Juan Mercedes. After collecting most of the regional titles available, Lopez finally got his world title via unanimous decision over 45-1-1 Pramuansak Posuwan last March.
In Sonsona he faces an explosive punching southpaw that many writers have compared to the great Manny Paquiao. Lopez’ camp pays no attention to the comparison, indicating that they have trained as hard as they would for any other fight. “I always come well prepared and this will be no exception. He’s young, a little taller than me, but we will do good work. I will be prepared for anything he brings. I don’t think he can bring anything that I have not seen before but I’m sure he will be facing something new when he faces me due to his inexperience, which can be a big factor. Nevertheless, I can’t be overconfident and I am not,” said Lopez.
In preparation for this bout Lopez has accumulated a total of 140 rounds of sparring, including several encounters with fellow champion Ivan Calderon, who will face Rodel Mayol next month for Round 2 of this series. Lopez has already been close to the 115-pound limit for several days, so he expects to have no problems complying with a contracted and rare same-day weigh in. “It’s rare and unusual but it’s the same for both of them. ‘Carita’ is making the weight comfortably,” said Lopez’ trainer after revealing the strange agreement.
Will experience prevail over youth? Will this be Sonsona’s coming out party as the next Filipino boxing sensation? Stay tuned.
By Luis Torres (03-Sep-2009)
Luis Torres examines the red hot rivalry developing between Puerto Rico and the Philippines as three title fights happening in the next three months pit these two nations against each other at boxing’s world championship level!
Lopez vs. Sonsona / Photo: Ivan Montiel
Friday, September 4, kick starts an unusual three-month period in which three Pinoy fighters will be challenging for world titles against Boricua champions. Manny Pacquiao’s battles against the most recent crop of Mexican greats ignited a national boxing rivalry between the Philippines and Mexico that has claimed a spot for the Philippines in discussions about boxing power houses. Is Puerto Rico next?
There have been very few notable title fights involving Puerto Rico and the Philippines with Puerto Rico holding a comfortable lead on the scorecards. Puerto Rican hall-of-famer Carlos Ortiz’ two knockout wins over late Filipino great Flash Elorde, Samuel Serrano’s win and draw against Ben Villaflor, Nelson Dieppa’s explosive 11th-round KO over Andy Tabanas, Ivan Calderon’s eighth-round KO over Noel Tunacao, Juan Manuel Lopez’ 10th-round stoppage over Gery Penalosa and most recently Ivan Calderon’s technical draw against Rodel Mayol all combine for a 6-0-2 (5 KOs) record in favour of the Caribbean warriors. Can this new group led by pound-for-pound ruler Manny Paquiao turn the tide?
Round 1 of three matches 37-year-old veteran Jose ‘Carita’ Lopez 39-7-0 (32 KOs) against 19-year-old rising prospect Marvin Sonsona 13-0 (12 KOs). It has been a rough journey for Lopez who has the distinction of having won his first world title in his fifth attempt. The experienced and powerful boxer-puncher has been on an impressive run since his last loss in 2001, a title fight in which he managed to score a knockdown over defending champion Fernando Montiel.
During this time, Lopez worked his way up in the rankings the old way. He has compiled a 15-0-1 (8 KOs) record including a mild upset knockout over Dominican young gun Juan Mercedes. After collecting most of the regional titles available, Lopez finally got his world title via unanimous decision over 45-1-1 Pramuansak Posuwan last March.
In Sonsona he faces an explosive punching southpaw that many writers have compared to the great Manny Paquiao. Lopez’ camp pays no attention to the comparison, indicating that they have trained as hard as they would for any other fight. “I always come well prepared and this will be no exception. He’s young, a little taller than me, but we will do good work. I will be prepared for anything he brings. I don’t think he can bring anything that I have not seen before but I’m sure he will be facing something new when he faces me due to his inexperience, which can be a big factor. Nevertheless, I can’t be overconfident and I am not,” said Lopez.
In preparation for this bout Lopez has accumulated a total of 140 rounds of sparring, including several encounters with fellow champion Ivan Calderon, who will face Rodel Mayol next month for Round 2 of this series. Lopez has already been close to the 115-pound limit for several days, so he expects to have no problems complying with a contracted and rare same-day weigh in. “It’s rare and unusual but it’s the same for both of them. ‘Carita’ is making the weight comfortably,” said Lopez’ trainer after revealing the strange agreement.
Will experience prevail over youth? Will this be Sonsona’s coming out party as the next Filipino boxing sensation? Stay tuned.
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