Tag: Sporting News

There is something fitting about bringing the story of the early Filipino boxers back to San Francisco, where so much of that history was made more than a century ago.

Young Filipino fighters began appearing in the city’s boxing clubs, gymnasiums and arenas. Many arrived anonymously. Only a few would become world champions. They fought at places whose names belong to another San Francisco now—Dreamland Rink, National Hall, the San Francisco Civic Auditorium and, later, Newman’s Gym. They crossed the Pacific carrying their ability, courage and ambition, and in the prize ring helped establish a Filipino boxing tradition that would eventually be recognized around the world.

Today, many of them have returned to San Francisco in tangible form.

Little Brown Dolls No More: The Rise of Filipino Boxers in the Squared Circle, presented by the Filipino American Center at the San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin Street), Friends of the SFPL and the SFPL Exhibits Team, and co-curated with the Philippine Boxing Historical Society and Hall of Fame, brings together historic photographs, original paintings, rare books, magazines, boxing gloves, vintage equipment and artifacts to tell the story of the fighters who helped establish the Philippines as one of boxing’s great nations.

The exhibition is housed at the Filipino American Center on the Third Floor of the San Francisco Public Library Main Library—a particularly meaningful home for a story connecting the Philippines, Filipino America and San Francisco.

The exhibition represents years of collecting, research and preservation. But this is not simply a private collection placed inside a library. It is a shared exhibition, shaped through collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library and made accessible to anyone who walks through its doors.

The title Little Brown Dolls No More reaches back to an expression once used by American sportswriters to describe Filipino boxers. The words could sound affectionate on the surface, but they also reflected the patronizing language of another time.

The fighters eventually supplied their own answer.

They fought.

Long before Manny Pacquiao became an international superstar, Filipino boxers were crossing the Pacific and establishing reputations in American rings. San Francisco became one of the important places where that remarkable story unfolded.

Eustaquio “Eddie” Duarte fought at San Francisco’s Dreamland Rink in 1910. Macario Villon and other pioneers followed. By the 1920s, Filipino fighters were becoming contenders in American boxing, with men such as Pete Sarmiento and Pablo Dano carrying the reputation of Philippine fighters into arenas throughout California and across the country.

Then came Francisco Guilledo—the diminutive fighter the world remembers as Pancho Villa.

In 1923, Villa defeated Jimmy Wilde to become world flyweight champion, the first Filipino and Asian world boxing champion. His story would also become permanently connected to Northern California. His final fight took place at Oaks Ball Park in Emeryville on July 4, 1925. He died ten days later at only 23 years old.

Small Montana, Little Dado, Ceferino Garcia and others continued the championship tradition. Decades later came Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Luisito “Earthquake” Espinosa and ultimately Manny Pacquiao. Yet the exhibition deliberately turns the clock backward, toward the men who helped create the foundation.

Years of research have gone into recovering the stories of the Filipino fighters who helped shape those formative years. Some became world champions. Others were contenders, pioneers and journeymen whose names gradually faded from memory. Throughout the exhibition, their faces and stories emerge through photographs, paintings, periodicals, books and artifacts—each offering another glimpse into the remarkable generation that established the Filipino presence in the prize ring.

Their collective story provides the historical backbone of the exhibition.

Around them are the things that make their world tangible.

Among the most striking pieces are works by renowned painter of champions Rodolfo “Jun” Aquino, better known as “The Artist With a Punch,” and Brian Bonbon of Inksider Tattoo Studio in Lapu-Lapu City. 

Their work restores color, personality and presence to fighters we often know only through faded photographs and old newspaper pages. The paintings stand alongside the historical images, each offering another way of seeing the men behind the records.

A dedicated case showcases the tools of their trade.

Historic boxing gloves and vintage equipment bring us even closer. These were not created as museum pieces. Gloves were laced onto hands. Headgear absorbed punches. Training equipment belonged to working gyms and working fighters. Today they survive as reminders of the physical world these boxers inhabited and of how much the sport has changed over the past century.

One of the smallest objects in the exhibition may also be one of the easiest to miss—and one of the most fascinating. Amid the larger paintings, photographs, gloves and equipment, the mouthpiece is a modest object. Look for it. It is a must-see—a small piece of equipment made for one of the biggest fights boxing has ever staged.

Among the oldest treasures are original volumes of Pierce Egan’s Boxiana and Sporting Anecdotes, the great chronicles of the English prize ring published more than two centuries ago. Egan recorded the fighters, personalities, language and culture of bare-knuckle boxing long before the modern gloved era. To see those books alongside the gloves, photographs, paintings and equipment of Filipino fighters is to see different generations of boxing history gathered in one place.

The magazines and periodicals are veritable timestamps of a bygone era, when print was king. Before television, the internet and social media, it was newspapers and sporting publications that carried these fighters into homes, barber shops, gyms and neighborhoods.

Their names once filled the sports pages, and their photographs gave readers a face to remember, even if they never had the chance to see them fight. Today, these aging pages do more than document boxing history. They bring us back to a time when the printed word and a single photograph could turn a fighter into a familiar name—and preserve his story for generations to come.

And San Francisco itself is part of that story.

The city was never merely a backdrop. Filipino fighters trained here, fought here and became part of its sporting life. Dreamland, Civic Auditorium, the Olympic Club and Newman’s Gym are part of that history because of the fighters, trainers, managers, writers, photographers and fans who passed through them.

That connection continued into the modern era. Luisito “Earthquake” Espinosa became closely associated with the Bay Area, and in 2001 Manny Pacquiao fought Agapito Sanchez at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, linking a new generation of Philippine boxing with a city where Filipino fighters had already been throwing punches for nearly a century.

Remembering.

History has a way of reducing fighters to numbers—victories, defeats, draws, knockouts and championships. The objects in this exhibition help us see beyond the record. A photograph gives us a face. A painting gives us another interpretation of that face. An old pair of gloves brings us closer to the ring. A magazine shows us how a fighter was seen in his own time. And books written two centuries ago remind us that these men became part of a boxing tradition much older than themselves.

Together, they tell a story that no single object could tell alone.

That is what makes the partnership behind Little Brown Dolls No More so meaningful. Years were spent finding and preserving these pieces and, just as importantly, the stories attached to them. SFPL has provided the public space where that history can now be encountered, studied and enjoyed by everyone.

And there could hardly be a more fitting place than the Filipino American Center.

Perhaps a longtime boxing fan will recognize a forgotten fighter, a Filipino American family will discover a name they have never heard before, someone who knows little about boxing will first be drawn to a painting, an old pair of gloves, Pacquiao’s mouthpiece or a two-hundred-year-old volume of Boxiana and then become curious about the people and history surrounding it. That curiosity is part of what we hope for.

More than a century after Filipino fighters first stepped into San Francisco rings, a piece of their history has come home—their photographs, paintings, gloves, books and equipment, each carrying a story that deserves to be remembered.

Mabuhay at Salamat! 🇵🇭🥊

Exhibition Information

• Little Brown Dolls No More: The Rise of Filipino Boxers in the Squared Circle remains on exhibition at the Filipino American Center, Third Floor, San Francisco Public Library Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, through January 14, 2027.

RUNYON SAYS:

Another Filipino Boxer.

His Name Is Johnny Hill.

Suggests Those Old Days.

Who Was the Real Father?

Probably a Deserter.

By 

DAMON RUNYON

Original Copyright, 1926, International Features  Service. Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) • Tue, Aug 10, 1926 • Page 15 (Public Domain)

     Mr. Frank Churchill, that dour, silent man from the Philippines, who imported the late Pancho Villa to these shores, as the first Filipino boxer of any note, has brought over another Filipino, said to be one of the best men the islanders have yet produced.

     His name is Johnny Hill, which would indicate that his family tree branches off into that remote era when my venerable friend, Mr. W. Oswald McGeehan, the New York sports writer, and other gentlemen, now warped and grizzled with the years, pursued the agile Aguinaldo.

     Johnny Hill is a featherweight and has shown some ability in his appearances in this country. Mr. Churchill dourly informed me one evening that he thinks he has another champion, another Villa, in Hill. Mr. Churchill will spend the balance of his days seeking another Villa.

     There are many Filipino boxers In this country now, Pete Sarmiento, Johnny Datto, Young Nationalista, Young Dencio, and others, but none of them approach Villa in the matter of ability. Clever Sencio, another of Mr. Churchill’s importations, who died after a battle with Buddy Taylor, was, in my opinion, the best of those after Villa.

     In pursuing the Manly Art of Scrambling Ears, the Filipino displays one strong characteristic. He is game. This has ever been something of a surprise to Mr. W. R. Oswald McGeehan, and other former members of the old eighth army corps, for in the days when they chased the nimble Aguinaldo from bough to bough, they held the courage of the Filipino in scant esteem.

     The American soldier of ’98 didn’t think his little brown brother had much heart for fighting, because he was generally on the gallop. This may have been due to the fact that the Filipino was outnumbered and outrifled. The history of those gallus days of the empire down yonder in the islands, will tell of many striking instances of individual courage on the part of the Filipinos.

     And among the numerous ringmen from the distant islands that I have viewed in the past yew years, I never saw more than two or three that struck me as a bit over-cautious, Pancho Villa was certainly not one of these. He had tremendous courage.

     There has long been something of 

an argument as to who started the Filipinos to boxing, especially since Mr.

Churchill’s friends claimed that somewhat dubious distinction for him. I believe it is generally agreed that the islanders first took it up in ’98 or 99, and there is little doubt that it was going on among them to a certain extent before Mr. Churchill’s time.

     It is certain, however, that the dour Mr. Churchill turned out the first Filipino champion, and you can make what you please of that.

     The first authentic record of boxing among the Filipinos was presented to me some time ago in a letter from a former brother-in-arms of Mr. W. Oswald McGeehan, which I printed in this column.

It told of the finding of boxing gloves in the barracks of the Filipino insurgents in the town of San Mateo, in the Maraquina valley, which was taken by the American troops after an engagement in which General Lawton was killed.

     Moreover, the Filipino prisoners mentioned boxing bouts behind their lines, and said that they had been in troduced to the game by a Negro soldier who had deserted from the 24th.

     I have more recently received an

another letter from Mr. Fred M. Short, of 603 East 135th street, New York, who served with the 21st infantry in the Philippines and who is inclined to agree with the theory that the story is correct.

His regiment was relieved at the water works, on the Marquina road, a fond memory to the boys of ’98-’99 by the Twenty-fourth after taking part in a cleanup of San Mateo.

     No garrison was left in the town, and the insurgents later moved back in.

One of them subsequently killed Lawton.

Mr. Short says there were several instances of desertion recorded in the Twenty-fourth about that time, the deserters going over to the rebels at San Mateo, and he thinks it reasonably certain that one of them laced the first boxing gloves on a Filipino.

     In any event, I think it must be admitted that the dour Mr. Churchill was the first to make anything of the enterprise in those distant parts, and that is probably about all he cares about.

Runyon Says

Churchill is in Error. 

On Boxing in Manila.

Gloves of San Mateo.

Negro Soldier Pioneer.

——

By Damon Runyon

——

     Not long ago I read a statement

by  Mr. Frank Churchill, who was

manager of the late Pancho Villa, flyweight champion of the world, confessing that he—Churchill— adjusted the first pair of boxing gloves to the hands of a Filipino.

     It is of no great consequence, to be sure, but to relieve Mr. Churchill’s conscience of any sense of guilt, and to clear the record, I wish to state that I can produce evidence which completely absolves him. In other words, he is in error if he thinks he was the first to plant the germs of The Manly Art of Scrambling Ears among the Filipinos.

——

     I have no doubt that this news will remove a load from Mr. Churchill’s mind. He has probably gone along for years feeling conscience stricken whenever he encountered a squashed bugle, or nose, on the Escolta, which is the main street of Manila, or observed the citizens of the town walking hard on their heels.

     But I see in Mr. Churchill only an

accessory to the crime to which he is pleading guilt after many years.

It was not his hands that laced the first pair of gloves on the dukes of a little born brother to William H. Taft-not

by quite a spell. It was the black hands of a soldier of the old 24th Infantry.

     ——

     Let me go back some twenty-six years, and before the arrival in the Philippines of Mr. Churchill. Let me go back to the morning of November 18, 1899, and and to the mist shrouded rice paddies around the little town of San Mateo on the

Island of Luxon, with the troopers of the Eleventh Cavalry sliding through the haze.

     There was a leathery looking man in command of the cavalrymen that morning, his long legs dangling almost to the ground on either side of a shaggy little pony, and a big white helmet on his head that made him a conspicuous figure.

     The man was General Lawton, one of the famous Indian fighters of the American Army, and as great a soldier as ever wore shoe leather. He was leading the cavalrymen to an assault on San Mateo against the Filipino  insurgents, and he fell in that fight.

——

     The cavalrymen went on and took the town of San Mateo, and they found among the possessions abandoned by the fleeing insurrectos, a set of boxing gloves made by the late Sol Levinson, of San

Francisco, whose gloves came to be in San Mateo, and some of the Filipino prisoners explained that they had been brought in by a renegade soldier from the negro 24th Infantry, and that he had been schooling the Filipinos in their use.

     They told of bouts beneath the

palm trees, the followers of Emilio Aguinaldo, with the negro directing and coaching, and there is no doubt in my mind that this was the very first sowing of the seed that eventually produced a Filipino world’s champion.

——

     As to what became of the negro soldier, I do not know. He did not fall in the fight for San Mateo, of that I am quite sure.

     Perhaps he is a peaceful, and somewhat grizzled dweller, of a remote bario on Luzon, raising rice, and kicking a plodding carabao to market, little wrecking of the damage he has wrought to Filipino ears and nose since that time twenty-six years ago.

     But there is no doubt that Mr. Frank Churchill can be held responsible for the development of the first Filipino boxers of any real ability, as well as for the Philippines’ first and only world’s champion.

——

     I think he reached the Philippines some time after the fabulous “Days of the Empire,” which period was immediately after the fall of Manila. Baseball, cock-fighting and racing flourished among the Filipinos, but there was no boxing except among the American soldiers. Mr. Churchill became one of the leading promoters of Manila and presently began

developing the natives as boxers.

——

     Pancho Villa was already a good fighter when Mr. Churchill first brought him to America, with several other Filipino boxers, and a good drawing card In Manila, but Mr. Churchill took very small purses for him at the outset here, just to get him started.

     He realized that Villa’s reputation at home meant nothing here, and he was always confident that Villa was great fighter. Subsequent events proved Mr. Churchill was quite right.

     Personally, I think Villa was the greatest fighter of his inches, The Manly Art of Scrambling Ears has seen in a long time.

     I note that Mr. Churchill has imported another Filipino flyweight that he says he thinks is as good a fighter as Villa. I doubt that. I doubt that Mr. Churchill will ever have another fighter that he will think is as good as Villa.

     The Villas come along at rare intervals, and few men are fortunate enough to get two of them. Villa, in addition to his fighting ability, could draw more money than most of the champions of other divisions.

     He had an amazing personality and color in the ring. He was flashy, spectacular. And he could fight— how he could fight! He classes in Pugilistic history with Jimmy Barry, Jimmy Wilde, Johnny Coulon, and the other great little men of the game.

Boxing fans know Delfin Boholst today as the chief trainer of Filipino title contender Charly Suarez. 

On July 11, 2026, he’ll work Suarez’s corner at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza — part of one of the most ambitious fight cards the Bay Area, or the world for that matter, has ever seen. 

For Filipino boxing, it’s a significant night. 

For Boholst, it’s another chapter in a life built on discipline, service, and purpose.

The road started in Polomolok, South Cotabato, where he was born. He grew up in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, raised by his parents. 

Today he’s based at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig — where he married, started a family, and continues his Army Reserve service.

Ask him about his role models and he doesn’t hesitate.

“My role models are my parents. They taught me to become a decent person in society.”

That answer sets the tone for everything else.

He wanted to be a soldier from the time he was a boy. Not a passing wish — a fixed point he steered toward his whole life. He entered active duty in 2009, served through 2017, and reached the rank of First Lieutenant. He remains an Army Reserve Officer today.

Boxing ran alongside all of it.

He joined the Philippine National Boxing Team in 2005. Over the next seven years he competed at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar, the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia, and two Olympic qualifying tournaments. 

He didn’t medal at those marquee events, but he collected hardware elsewhere — a Gold at the Tammer Cup in Finland in 2006, a Bronze and Silver in 2010, a Gold at an international tournament in the Philippines that same year, and a Gold at the Blue & Gold tournament in Los Angeles in 2010.

He stepped away from competition in 2012. The 2011 Olympic qualifier was the turning point.

“I realized that fighting was not for me,” he said. “I also continued my Army service as an officer — that’s why I stopped in 2012.”

He understood boxing on his own terms, though. When asked what drew him to the sport, he reached for the phrase fighters and writers have used for generations.

“Boxing is called ‘The Sweet Science’ because it is not all about power punches,” he said. “You need intelligence, discipline, defense, timing, and strategy. It’s like playing chess in the ring — you think about how to touch and manipulate the opponent, and think about how to avoid his punches. It blends ability, skill, and cleverness in fighting.”

The move into coaching came naturally. In 2018 he lent a hand to (Team) Jerwin Ancajas and Joven Jimenez. Work with Team Mark Barriga followed. Somewhere in that stretch he recognized his real calling.

“I realized I had a talent for teaching boxing,” he said.

That recognition eventually led him back to someone he’d known since 2005 — Charly Suarez, his teammate on the national squad.

“Charly and I played boxing together in national and international tournaments …we are like brothers,” he said.

That brotherhood carried over into the professional ranks. Suarez — former Olympian, decorated amateur — has built a sterling professional record. Boholst has been in his corner for all of it.

His approach to coaching mirrors the values his parents instilled and his military service reinforced.

“My role models in life are my parents, coaches, and people who worked hard to achieve their dreams with discipline and respect for others,” he said. 

“One of the lessons I want to pass on to the new generation is the importance of discipline and proper behavior. Talent alone is not enough — it also requires hard work, perseverance, respect, and self-belief. True success is not just about winning, but how you approach life and how you become a good person to others.”

He is also a Freemason, a member of Teodoro M. Kalaw Lodge 136, GLP — another thread in a life woven through with brotherhood and obligation.

As July 11 approaches, Boholst has his eyes on Manuel “Tino” Avila, Suarez’s opponent — a tough fighter on home turf.

“I know that Tino Avila is a tough opponent and he is still in his hometown, so I expect strong support for him,” Boholst said. 

“But we are ready for any situation. We trained well, we prepared well, we are focused. The stakes are high — everything we have worked hard for will be lost if Charly loses.”

He knows what the night means beyond the result.

“It is a great honor to be on Charly’s corner in this event and represent our country,” he said. “I know the importance of this card, especially with the many Filipinos in California and the Bay Area who will support and pray for us.”

To the young athletes watching, he had a final word — one that covered sport, life, and faith in the same breath.

“Always put discipline, hard work, and respect first,” he said. 

“In sports, talent is not enough. You need perseverance, proper training, and readiness for challenges — that is how a true athlete is shaped. In life, do not rush success. There is a process for everything. Learn to rise from every mistake and use it as a lesson. And in spirituality — keep your faith and stay humble. No matter what you achieve, never forget where you started and who helped you get there. When you have faith and a good heart, you become stronger not just inside the ring, but in real life.”

For a man who has spent his life in service — in uniform, on the national team, and now in the corner — those aren’t borrowed words.

They’re the ones he lives by.

——

Ed Pereira and iV Boxing Presents: History in the Making
 

• Saturday, July 11, 2026
• Civic Center Plaza 
• San Francisco, California

Promoters:
 

• Sampson Lewkowicz (Sampson Boxing)
• Paco Damian (Paco Presents)
• Akihiko Honda (Teiken Promotions)
• Felix “Tuto” Zabala Jr. (All Star Boxing Inc.)

Matchmakers:
Paco Damian & Christy Martin

Featured Bouts:

• Anthony Olascuaga vs. Andy Dominguez Velasquez
• Yan Marcos vs. Guido Emmanuel Schramm
• Charly Suarez vs. Manuel Avila
• Gurgen Hovhannisyan vs. Uila Mau’u
• Oscar Bonifacino vs. Raul Escudero
• Blake Binskin vs. Elijah Smith

California State Athletic Commission sanctioned.