For the first time since the classic “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975, international heavyweight boxing will return to local shores via a southern route.
“Thrilla In Davao” slated on June 15 will have a world heavyweight crown at stake just like the last championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Araneta Coliseum nearly half a century ago. Ali won the brutal fight—regarded by boxing historians as one of the greatest of all time—when his rival could not answer the starting bell for their 15th and final round of battle.
The main event in Davao has been advertised as a showdown of world superpowers.
Ronald Johnson, a former World Boxing Council North America light-heavyweight champion, is scheduled to clash with Wu Zhiyu of China.
Wu has captured both the WBC continental heavyweight and WBC Asian Boxing Council cruiserweight championship belts.
Johnson and Wu will lock horns for the vacant world heavyweight title of the Global Boxing Organization, a Los Angeles-based fight sanctioning body that is expanding internationally after years of focusing on US fights. Johnson, 34, brings a record of 15 wins (with four TKOs) against only one loss via majority decision, while 36-year-old Wu has nine wins, two losses and one draw on his fight resume.
The Davao fight card consisting of six bouts is organized by veteran matchmaker Rey Rodis, a former protégé of Don King—the famous promoter of Thrilla In Manila and other iconic fights. Rodis will roll out a red-carpet dinner boxing affair at the 1,500-seat Tent City in Azuela Cove, a new upscale waterside development in Davao City’s outskirts.
Two major supporting bouts with GBO championship belts on the line will showcase young Filipino and Indonesian contenders. In the 130-pound junior lightweight category, 22-year-old KJ Natuplag of Ifugao province will stake his unblemished record of eight wins, including seven stoppages, when he meets Reynold Kundimang (4-1-3) of Jakarta for the GBO Asia Pacific crown.
Another undefeated fighter from Ifugao, Roy Nagulman (8-0-1) who at 17 has knocked out five of his nine opponents, will clash with 18-year-old Jufri Kakahure (4-2-0) to determine the next GBO Asia Pacific bantamweight (118 lbs) king. All matches will be co-supervised by the Games and Amusements Board and GBO.
The Johnson-Wu world heavyweight clash was sealed with a press announcement last April 23 at the Fil-American Community of Los Angeles hall attended by Johnson’s entourage that included well-known rapper Ray J.
“Thrilla in Davao is coming 44 years after Don King brought the first and only heavyweight championship in the Philippines dubbed as Thrilla in Manila,” Rodis’ son Cacoi told the media gathering. “It will be held in the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte and hosted by Mayor Sarah Duterte, both of whom are expected to attend the city’s first-ever heavyweight championship event.”
Also in the pipeline of GBO and promoter RED (which stands for Rodis Entertainment Digital) this year is a boxing caravan set to travel across the Philippines until 2020. GBO and RED plan to work with local promoters to discover champions who will be invited to a training camp in LA in preparation for big-time fights in the US.
“GBO offers Asia-Pacific boxers a better fighting chance to become world champions in the future,” said the younger Rodis, who also co-produces American feature films and formerly worked as an assistant to Hollywood legend Al Pacino. “We should be very proud,” he added, “that the GBO Asia-Pacific boxing caravan will be kicked off by a world heavyweight championship match in the Philippines.”
