by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is impressed not only with the boxing skills of former world super flyweight champion “Marvelous” Marvin Sonsona but also his good looks, describing him as “a really handsome kid.”

Arum who watched Sonsona in a public workout at the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino on Wednesday in Macau said the Filipino’s fight against former WBA super bantamweight champion Akifumi Shimoda of Japan should be “a really good fight” for the WBO International featherweight title in a battle of southpaws.

Sonsona’s manager Dr. Rajan Yraola told the Manila Standard that both Arum and promoter and international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz who co-promotes  Sonsona with Sammy Gello-ani  watched the workout and said “he looks good.”

The manager emphasized “we need to win by a knockout. That’s my main goal because we need to impress promoter Bob Arum who is hoping they can put Sonsona on another Macau card in the future.

Shimoda is currently ranked No. 2 in the world and has a record of 28-3-2 with 12 knockouts  while Sonsona has a record of 17-1-1 with 14 knockouts and was the second youngest Filipino at the age of 19 to win a world title when he dropped Puerto Rico’s Jose “Carita” Lopez early in their WBO super flyweight championship bout in Canada.

Sonsona moved up in weight but lost to Wilfredo Vazquez Jr in a WBO super bantamweight title fight in Puerto Rico but has won three successive fights since then while Shimoda who lost his title in a stunning 7th round knockout to Rico Ramos when he was on control of the fight and was leading on the scorecards of all three judges has won six straight fights since then.

A group of Filipinos and Hong Kong and Macau residents met with Sonsona and gave him a warm reception. Arum himself told us the venue  was filled with Filipinos and indicated “it was very exciting with all the Olympic gold medalists who will see action on the card taking pictures together.”

Arum said “it’s a good card and there are going to be some good fights.”