Sonsona vs. Vazquez this Saturday

By Dave Lahr: Former World Boxing Organization super flyweight champion Marvin Sonsona (14-0-1, 12 KO’s) will face Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (17-0-1, 14 KO’s) this Saturday night for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Both of these fighters are terribly flawed at this point in their young careers, and it’s hard to imagine that the winner of this fight will be able to hold down the WBO title for more than a defense or two without losing it to someone. Sonsona, 19, is a skinny slugger who got by on his power alone while fighting at super flyweight.

In moving up in weight, his advantages in power will likely disappear as he meets fighters who can punch as hard if no harder than him. Defensively and stamina-wise, Sonsona looks like an amateur and is wide open for anything thrown his way. He barely beat Jose Lopez in September 2009 to capture the super flyweight title and then had to move up in weight because he had problems making the super flyweight limit.

Vazquez, 25, has fought almost entirely 2nd tier opposition to receive the number #2 ranking in the WBO. It would have been nice to have seen Vazquez fight a top tier fighter or two by now so at least we could see if he’s for real or not. Vazquez has looked very average in many of his fights, not like a number # 2 fighter in my view, but then again, Sonsona looks equally bad for his part as well. Sonsona is currently ranked number #3 by the WBO.

I see both Sonsona and Vazquez as being nowhere near the level of Juan Manuel Lopez, the WBO super bantamweight champion. Nor do I see them as being anywhere near the talent of Celestino Caballero, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Ricardo Cordoba, Rogers Mtagwa, Steve Molitor, Toshiaki Nishioka, Poonsawat Kratingdaeng, Rafael Marquez, Rey Bautista, Gerry Penalosa, Rendall Munroe, Bernard Dunne, Jhonny Gonzalez, or Takalani Ndlovu.

In other words, I don’t see Vazquez or Sonsona as top 10 super bantamweights despite the fact that they’re fighting for the vacant WBO title this Saturday.

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