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Forgotten warriors: Merqui Sosa


BoztheMadman
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Merqui Sosa was a complete package: he had boxing IQ, was big and strong for his weight (especially at middleweight), could hit and take punishment and had a tremendous heart. But, due to the quality of opposition in that time, he never could really make it big. He gave James Toney perhaps his first true test. He defeated a prime Glen Johnson and gave a prime Michael Nunn a tough fight. He also knocked out the tough and durable "Prince" Charles Williams in a memorable fight. But he came up short in his only world title fight. He was only stopped once in his prime, on accumulation. This is the story of "El Corombo", Merqui Sosa.

 

He was born on 11 November 1965 in San Pedro de Macuris, Dominican Republic. He started training boxing at 11 and started competing at 12. In a country where baseball is the principal sport, the young Merqui chose boxing instead and joined the Dominican national team at 14. He had a successful amateur career with over 200 bouts with only 9 losses. He then relocated to New York to begin his professional career in December 1987 with a UD4 over a guy called Andre Terminator Coles. The sculpted 6'2 Sosa fought as both middleweight and super middleweight over the next couple years, amassing a record of 18-0 with 14 knockouts, including a decision win over the crafty Sanderline Williams. He also won the WBA Americas middleweight title with a 1-round destruction of fringe contender Jose Quinones, who also fought Nigel Benn and Sumbu Kalambay previously. He was a crowd pleaser with his action packed swarmer style. He was always in magnificent shape. On 13 January 1991, he got a fight against another undefeated middleweight: none else but James "Lights Out" Toney. It was a fight for the IBC middleweight title and it didn't disappoint. Although Sosa was briefly down in round 3, he gave Toney a tough fight and Toney later stated he was the hardest puncher he had yet fought. Sosa also got a point deducted for low blows, but still one judge gave him the fight but the other two didn't and so he lost by SD.

 

Unfortunately, Sosa was known for fighting dirty sometimes and it didn't do him any favours. He also lost a split decision to Tony Thornton, who was a smart boxer. After drawing against Steve Little, he stopped the journeyman Willie Kemp in 3 to take the New York State super middleweight title. On 21 October 1992 he was matched against "Fabulous>" Frankie Liles, the future WBA champion who was reportedly avoided by Roy Jones jr. Sosa's swarming style was only partly successful against Liles, in the early rounds, but Liles proved too elusive and too fast for him and started punishing him. Sosa also got no less than 4 points deducted for various fouls and was in the end stopped in the 12th round after receiving a barrage against the ropes. Despite the disappointing loss, he received a title shot against the reigning WBA champion Michael "Second To" Nunn, who was 41-1, that sole loss coming to Toney of course. The fight took place in Puebla, Mexico, on 18 December 1993 and Sosa gave a good account of himself but was in the end outdone by Nunn who won by 116-112 twice and 116-113. Having failed at 168, he decided to try his luck in the light heavyweight division. On 13 January 1995 he was matched against former IBF champion "Prince" Charles Williams, who was of similar height and build as Sosa. It was for the vacant NABF title. The fight was a true barnburner, like Williams' fights with Bobby Czyz had been, but Sosa was still the better man and was ahead on all the scorecards comfortably. Still, in a curious decision, the fight was stopped after 7 rounds because both men had taken too much punishment and declared a technical draw! Sosa's trunks were drenched with blood while Williams sported lacerations on his left eyelid. Sosa's right eye was also closed.

 

A rematch was set for 30 June and again it was a true barnburner, but this time Sosa came out on top and knocked Williams out with a devastating uppercut in the 10th round. Williams looked totally gone as he stood there with his head thrown back and eyes closed, like in a trance. He was taken away on a stretcher and Merqui showed his gentleman side when he expressed great concern and sadness over what had happened. Still, the NABF title was now his and he was now ranked among the top 10 light heavyweights. After winning one easy fight by stoppage, he was given the biggest fight of his life against Roy Jones jr himself, who was just moving up to light heavyweight and it was his first fight there. Both guys weighed in at 171, the stipulated weight. The fight took place in Atlantic City on 12 January 1996. Sosa's NABF title was not on the line for some reason. Jones stated before the fight that Sosa was going to be his toughest opponent yet, but it didn't prove to be so; in the first round, Sosa used his usual swarming style to throw Jones off his game but it wasn't completely successful as Jones' speed offset that plan. Sosa landed some body punches while Jones focused on the head and hit Sosa with some combinations. The fight looked competitive until Jones landed a hard right after about 2 minutes of round 2 which put Sosa down. He didn't look as much hurt as surprised and beat the count without problems. Jones then jumped him and hit him with a series of rights and lefts which drove Sosa to the ropes. It was then that the referee Ken Zimmer did the unthinkable: he stopped the fight at 2:36 of the round, with Sosa still on his feet and not out on them. Sosa furiously attacked Zimmer, shoving him into the ropes and it looked like he was about to lay a beating on him as the guards entered the ring. Chaos errupted in Sosa's corner as his cornermen also entered the ring and screamed furiously at the referee.

 

It didn't matter much, since Jones celebrated a much easier victory than expected, in no small part thanks to the referee. The commentators and Harold Lederman all agreed that Zimmer should have given Sosa an 8-count, which would have established wether he was ready to continue or not. Sosa got 350 thousand for the fight but left it hurt more emotionally than physically. It was his big chance to shine on world stage and he had been denied of it by an over-eager referee. Of course, the possibility of him beating Jones was slim, but still nobody knows what could have happened had he been allowed to make it to round 3. Sosa was a naturally bigger man while Jones' chin would be exposed later on as suspect. "They treat Jones like a baby here", he stated after the fight, "They protect him." After three non-title fights, he finally defended his NABF title against Fabian Garcia on 10 May 1997 and won by UD10. He then beat Asluddin Umarov by TKO 5. Kazakh Umarov was previously the victim of Dariusz Michalczewski, the longest reigning light heavyweight world champion ever. After beating the contender Glenn Thomas by TKO 2 in a non-title fight, he went down to super middleweight to fight the young Glen Johnson, fresh after his first loss to Bernard Hopkins. Sosa won by decision in 10 in what is likely his best career win over the shorter Johnson. The scorecards were clearly in his favour. On 3 March '98 he lost his title by a controversial split decision to 28-0 Kenny Bowman, despite knocking Bowman down in round 4. After also losing to unknown Ray Berry by UD10, he faced Thomas "Ice Tea" Tate in a fight for the NABF super middle title.

 

Tate was also a former victim of Jones jr, also by 2nd round knockout and was a quality fighter with power. Sosa threw and landed more punches, but suffered two knockdowns, in rounds 6 and 7, so he was behind on two of the scorecards when he was knocked down and out in round 10. He also had a disappointing fight against James Butler, The Harlem Hammer, a hard-hitting super middleweight who stopped him in 2 rounds in July '99. Butler would go on to challenge Sven Ottke for the IBF title later on. On 16 June 2000, Sosa managed to exit the ring as the winner for the last time as he stopped Segundo Mercado, the 6'2 Ecuadorian who was known as the first man to knock down Bernard Hopkins and drew against him in that fight. Sosa was victorious by TKO 6. With that he retired aged almost 35, with a record of 34 wins (27 by ko), 9 losses and 2 draws. He started working as a trainer after retirement. Recently, he has had some trouble due to missed child-support payments and he was taken to custody where he refused to submit to a routine body search and started fighting the guards. He was beaten up and thrown in jail, where he currently is. He will be released on bail.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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