Sonsona, Django and Bata lift RP sports image

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

I WAS not able to write my sports piece last week as I have just been to Boracay and took a four-day rest. It was really a taxing fourteen-hour trip from here to Barangay Balabag, Malay, Aklan. But I’m now back home, safe and sound, thanks to God. And now I have to resume my homework.

While I was there, I never failed to watch sports tourneys and news on cable TV.

Yes, while our dribblers, amateur boxers, baseball and volleyball players, cyclists, golfers, triathletes were crushed one after the other in their recent respective international competitions, our professional boxers and pool players have been lifting the image of our country in the field of sports. They brought home international diadems for our land and earned the respect of world-caliber competitors. These professional athletes deserve to be feted, too, like the others, to boost their morale for their next matches.

I’m talking about Marvin Sonsona, the little-known prizefighter from Bacolod City, who last September 4 grabbed the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior bantamweight crown from Puerto Rican Jose Lopez via unanimous decision in a fight held in Canada. And, the two world-renowned pool experts Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Efren “Bata” Reyes recaptured the World Cup of Pool tiara last September 6 in Manila.  Django and Bata won the inaugural event in 2006 but were unsuccessful in 2007 and 2008.

Sonsona at 19 became one of the youngest Filipino world champions ever. He’s the fifth reigning champion from the Philippines (so far) after International Boxing Federation (IBF) king Brian Viloria, World Boxing Association (WBA) Interim super flyweight champ Nonito Donaire, Jr., WBO minimum weight titlist Donnie Nietes, and Pacquiao, the International Boxing Organization (IBO) light-welterweight title holder and pound-for-pound king.

While Nietes is scheduled to defend his title today, September 13, in Nayarit, Mexico against local boy Manuel Vargas, the southpaw Sonsona nicknamed “Marvelous” said he wants to defend his title in Canada where he was adored, much cheered and accommodated by the Filipino-Canadian community. The fight will most likely be held in January next year.

The Nietes-Vargas title clash is another Pinoy-Chicano war in the ring and as usual I expect my amigos in the boxing world to tease me again as to whom I will pick to be the victor. Playing safe, I’ll just remain mum.

Maybe you guys are wondering why Filipino-Mexican battles are seemingly the favorite of Top Rank Promotions of Bob Arum and Golden Boy of Oscar de la Hoya. It’s because it’s the trend now in world boxing and Top Rank and Golden Boy promotions are very much aware that every Filipino-Mexican encounter is a blockbuster event, easy to promote and very profitable due to the big Filipino and Mexican crowd in the US, especially Las Vegas and California.

I hope and wish that all the Filipino professional boxing fights will be aired live on TV.

I hope and wish that this sport would be patronized by Filipinos as the Mexicans do. Who knows, we might just produce another Pacman. Hopefully the four can retain their tiaras for a long period of time, particularly the jewel Pacquiao.

Boxing is my second favorite sport, next to cycling.   Maybe it’s because of my Filipino-Mexican lineage.

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