Marvin wins but far from marvelous

MANILA, Philippines - Marvin Sonsona did just enough of everything to score a split decision over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at the Madison Square Garden in New York City yesterday.

Two judges had it 96-92 for the Filipino while the other one had the similar score for Vazquez, the only fighter so far to beat Sonsona inside the ring.

When they first met four years ago in Bayamon in Puerto Rico, Vazquez knocked out an out-of-shape Sonsona inside four rounds.

This time, Sonsona was the happy winner. Although he didn’t look as marvelous as many thought he would, he won the NABF featherweight title.

It was the fifth straight win for Sonsona since he was stripped of the WBO super-flyweight title for failing to make weight for a title defense and being knocked out by Vazquez.

He improved to 19-1-1 with 15 knockouts. Maybe a couple more wins and he gets another shot at a world title.

Vazquez took his fourth loss in his last seven fights, including a defeat to Nonito Donaire Jr. on points in 2012, and is now 23-4-1.

Fans had started to fill up the iconic venue for the great fight between Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez when Sonsona climbed the ring for his first fight in the United States.

It didn’t take long for him to announce his presence.

With just over a minute gone in the opening round, the 23-year-old Sonsona tagged Vazquez with a couple of lefts to the body to send the Puerto Rican down.

Vazquez, 28, didn’t look hurt despite going down. But it took the fight out of him. He won a couple of rounds from the fourth but lacked what was needed to win the fight.

In the fifth round, Sonsona was warned by referee Steve Willis for holding, and in the sixth the Filipino was deducted a point for hitting Vazquez behind the head.

Despite the deduction, Sonsona remained ahead on the scorecards. In the seventh round, there was an accidental clash of heads and a low blow by Vazquez.

The ring commentators, led by the legendary Larry Merchant, started to label the fight “an ugly fight.”

By the end of the eighth, the native of General Santos City had thrown and landed more punches (96-of-368) than Vazquez (91-of-253).

Merchant thought he’d seen everything until the fighters wrestled each other down in the eighth and the 10th and last round. At the bell, Vazquez almost caught the referee with a punch.

Sonsona moved around the ring as he waited for the decision. Then he was announced the winner, and he approached Vazquez.

The Puerto Rican, who said he trained by himself for the fight, hugged and smiled at Sonsona like they were friends.

But later on, he sang a different tune.

“He’s a dirty, rotten fighter,” said Vazquez, who had welts on his face. 

Sonsona was never hurt.