Veteran broadcaster and journalist Ronnie Nathanielsz currently heads Viva Sports, is a sportswriter/columnist of the Manila Standard Today and a correspondent of the respected international boxing site, boxingscene.com.

His stories are also carried by philboxing.com and ABS-CBN news.com.

Nathanielsz anchors and produces the top-rated weekly boxing show “The Main Event” telecast on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. over IBC 13.

A longtime and very close friend of the late world junior lightweight champion Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Nathanielsz covered most of his fights for dzHP, the Manila station of the Radio Mindanao Network and also on Channel 13 and voiced several of his fights for showing in movie theaters at that time.

Nathanielsz was chosen to serve as liaison officer of Muhammad Ali for the “Thrilla in Manila” and traveled to Kuala Lumpur to cover the Ali fight against Joe Bugner and conducted several interviews with “The Greatest.” He also flew to Honolulu to accompany Ali to Manila for the “Thrilla” and wrote a series of enthralling articles that will be carried in the future on www.insidesports.ph.

He is a regular guest analyst on the boxing shows of the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN.

He has earned a name for himself internationally and regularly interviews such boxing luminaries as WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez, international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz and has been honored to receive calls from “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya.

His opinion has been sought on past Pacquiao fights by the prestigious Ring Magazine and has also been interviewed by HBO Sports.

Together with well-known sports analyst Quinito Henson, Nathanielsz covered the first battle between “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya and Sugar Shane Mosley at the Staples Center for Philippine television. They also covered WBC super flyweight champion Gerry Penalosa’s title fight against In Jin Choo in Seoul, South Korea and Luisito Espinosa’s title-winning bout against Manuel “Mantecas” Medina in Tokyo. They also did several major fights nationally.

Perhaps the most memorable for Nathanielsz was producing and often anchoring the weekly boxing show “Blow by Blow” for seven years in which a skinny, 16 year old Manny Pacquiao carved a name for himself and is today regarded as the greatest Filipino fighter of all-time.

Nathanielsz was involved with the PBA since its inception in 1975, first with the Voice of the Philippines radio and the government television network and later handled the television production of the games for Vintage Enterprises Inc., and later Viva-Vintage Sports.

He anchored the PBA games coverage on radio, occasionally on television and often hosted the half-time show during championship games with the brilliant American coach Ron Jacobs.

Nathanielsz also covered the World Basketball Club Championships in Spain for the government television network Maharlika Broadcasting System when the San Miguel Beer – Northern Consolidated team represented the Philippines. He also covered the memorable Jones Cup finals in 1985 in Taipei when the San Miguel team coached by Jacobs defeated a star-studded US team in an epic final in overtime. Along with veteran basketball commentator Dick Ildefonso he covered the ABC Championships in Kuala Lumpur in January 1986 when the Philippines beat both South Korea and China to win the crown.

He was instrumental in bringing the NBA Games to prime time television of Vintage Sports during the glory days of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls and anchored the show alongside veteran NBA and basketball analyst Quinito Henson. They also covered the finals when the Los Angeles Lakers with Shaquille O’ Neal and Kobe Bryant won the championship at the Staples Center and the NBA All Star Weekend in New York.

He has covered several Southeast Asian and Asian Games and also the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Nathanielsz produced and hosted several major international billiards tournaments for television in a cooperative effort between Viva Vintage Sports and Puyat Sports featuring the legends of the game including Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Earl “The Pearl” Strickland, Johnny Archer and scores of others.

Besides boxing, basketball and billiards Ronnie has covered Davis Cup tennis, international football and enjoys writing stories on volleyball, golf which he doesn’t play and chess which he developed an interest in while spending time with the late Bobby Fischer at the cockfights in Manila.

For this veteran of 72 summers, the saga of men and women striving for human excellence in their chosen fields of athletic discipline is a story worth telling and sharing with a world hungry for inspiring stories anchored on the values and virtues that sportsmen and women live by.

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