Ronald Fredrick William Nathanielsz (November 3, 1935 – November 11, 2016), was a Sri Lankan-born Filipino sports journalist, commentator and analyst.

Early life

Nathanielsz was born in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) in 1935. He was the eldest son of Elmo Nathanielsz and his wife Phyllis (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Labrooy) of Colombo. He and his brother-in-law, Annesley 'Bunny' Joseph, belonged to the same boxing club in their youth. They trained under former Ceylon flyweight champion Henry Young, who thought Ronnie could become an Olympic boxer. However, at age 17 or 18, Nathanielsz was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, ending his boxing career.

Career

In 1965, Nathanielsz was working for radio station DZHP. He worked as a columnist for the sports section of the ''

Manila Standard-Today The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines which, as of 2017, is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner o ...

'' and ''

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded broad ...

'' newspapers. For Inquirer, he wrote the section ''Inside Sports'' back in 2011. He was also involved in various sports promotions in boxing. At the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

from the 1980s until the early 1990s, he covered basketball matches on camera. He primarily focused on covering the sport of boxing in his whole sports journalism career. Then-President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

granted Philippine citizenship to Nathanielsz on May 14, 1973, through Presidential Decree 192. In 1975, Nathanielsz was appointed by then-President Marcos as a liaison officer between the Philippine government and the organizers of the

Thrilla in Manila Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III, billed as the ''Thrilla in Manila'', was the third and final professional boxing match between undisputed champion Muhammad Ali, and former champion Joe Frazier, for the heavyweight championship of the world. ...

boxing match (

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

vs.

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

). A few years later, he became the news director and general manager of the Maharlika Broadcasting System, the former brand of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. His staunch loyalty to Marcos received some criticisms. In GTV-4's ''Face the Nation'', a talk-show that Nathanielsz hosted, his independence was challenged by

Benigno Aquino Jr. Benigno "Ninoy" Simeón Aquino Jr., (, ; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac (1963–1967). Aquino was the husband ...

He turned down an offer from his father's friend to handle a weekly boxing show in Australia, much to the annoyance of his father.

Personal life

He was married to Amelia with whom he had a son and a daughter. He and his family moved to the Philippines in 1962.

Death

Nathanielsz experienced chest pains on November 3, 2016, while en route to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, where he was scheduled to join a TV broadcast panel, to cover

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...

fight Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

against

Jessie Vargas Jessie Vargas (born May 10, 1989) is a Mexican-American professional boxer. He held the WBO welterweight title in 2016. He also held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014. Amateur career Vargas had an amateur record of 120 ...

on November 5. He was then brought to the intensive care unit of the Mills-Peninsula Medical Centers in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its ...

. He later died on November 11, 2016 (Pacific Standard Time), of a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

. He was 81 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanielsz, Ronnie 1935 births 2016 deaths Sri Lankan emigrants to the Philippines Filipino columnists Filipino people of Sri Lankan descent Filipino sports journalists Naturalized citizens of the Philippines Philippine Basketball Association broadcasters Boxing commentators Philippine Daily Inquirer people People from Colombo