INQUIRER Sports

THERE?S a new world champion in Philippines boxing. And this one hopes to be a familiar name pretty soon.

Marvin Sonsona burst out of his corner right at the opening bell and dominated Puerto Rican Jose ?Carita? Lopez on the way to nailing the World Boxing Organization super flyweight title yesterday at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada.

Sonsona now joins an elite list of world champions with Filipino lineage, joining the likes of light welterweight king Manny ?Pacman? Pacquiao, minimumweight titlist Donny Nietes, fellow super flyweight ruler Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire and light flyweight king Brian ?The Hawaiian Punch? Viloria.

?It feels great to win,? said an overjoyed Sonsona through an interpreter after the fight. ?Lopez is a veteran fighter and a great champion. It?s a great win for me.?

The judges scored it 114-111, 115-110 and 116-109 all for the still undefeated Sonsona.

The southpaw Sonsona (14-0, 12 knockouts) immediately imposed his superb boxing skills from the onset as he dominated Lopez with strong right hooks and left straights.

In the fourth round, Sonsona floored Lopez with a strong left to the temple that saw the upper half of the Puerto Rican?s body lie outside the ropes.

The 37-year-old Lopez (39-8-2, 32 KO?s) got up on wobbly legs but fought back hard to survive the round.

By the sixth round Lopez started to become desperate after he got warned twice for low blows.

Sonsona, from General Santos City in Mindanao, looked like he was losing steam starting in the eighth as Lopez rocked the Filipino with a left hook to the jaw and a two-punch combo to the body. But Lopez?s charge was slowed by a point deduction for a clear low blow.

A looping right straight by Lopez snapped Sonsona?s head in the middle of the ninth but the bout was again momentarily halted with another low blow by the Puerto Rican. No deduction, however, was assessed against Lopez.

Fatigue started nibbling at the Filipino in the tenth, as Sonsona kept dropping his hands. But he showed enough ring generalship to simply move out of trouble and then throwing jabs each time Lopez tried to creep near.

?This kid has a bright future in the sport of boxing for someone who?s only had 13 fights,? announced TV panelist and Canadian boxer Steve Molitor after the final bell sounded.

Molitor, a former world champion, saw action before the Lopez-Sonsona bout where he stopped Darius Azuaga of Paraguay in the fifth round.

Sonsona, at age 19, thus became the second youngest Filipino world champion after former light welterweight king Morris East, who won the WBA crown at age 19 years and one month. Sonsona turned 19 last July.