Six is ‘Thrilla’s’ magic numbe
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 24 Oct 2025
Six is turning out to be a resonant number in the Golden Anniversary celebration of the “Thrilla In Manila” at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Oct. 29. That’s because there are six world-rated and six unbeaten fighters in the boxing card featuring 106 rounds in 13 bouts. Additionally, there are six foreign countries represented in the all-star cast.
The six world-rated fighters are WBA No. 2/IBF No. 10 middleweight Vadim Tukov of Russia, WBC No. 2/WBO No. 3/IBF No 4 superbantamweight Marlon Tapales, WBO No. 2/IBF No 8 superbantamweight Carl Jammes Martin, WBO No. 10/WBC No. 11/IBF No. 12 lightflyweight Arvin Magramo, WBC No. 2 minimumweight Siyakholwa Kuse of South Africa and WBC minimumweight champion Melvin Jerusalem.
The six unbeaten fighters are middleweight Eumir Marcial (6-0, 4 KOs), Martin (26-0, 20 KOs), lightflyweight Berlan Robles (12-0-1, 5 KOs), Tukov (16-0, 7 KOs), lightweight Eman Bacosa (6-0-1, 4 KOs) and lightweight Roderick Ballesteros (5-0-1, 4 KOs).
The six foreign countries are Russia (Tukov and heavyweight Georgiy Yunovidov), Venezuela (middleweight Eddy Colmenares and superbantamweight Fernando Toro), Ghana (middleweight Sena Agbeko), South Africa (Kuse and heavyweight Chris Thompson), Thailand (middleweight Kittisak Kilnson and superbantamweight Aran Dipaen) and US (Nico Ali Walsh).
The card is made up of one 12-rounder, two tenners, seven eight-rounders and three sixers. There will be one heavyweight fight, three each in the middleweight and superbantamweight divisions, two lightweight bouts and one each in the flyweight, superflyweight, lightflyweight and minimumweight classes. Of the 26 fighters on the card, 17 are making their “Blow By Blow” debut.
The Araneta gates will open at 10am with the first fight starting at 12 noon. Tickets are now on sale at popular prices, including P50 for general admission, P75 for upper box and P100 for lower box. The main event pits Jerusalem making the third defense of his WBC 105-pound title against Kuse. Other championship matches are Marcial against Colmenares for the vacant WBC International middleweight throne, Magramo staking his WBC International Silver lightflyweight belt against Robles and Philippine titleholder Albert Francisco disputing the vacant WBC International Silver flyweight diadem with Ramel Macado, Jr.
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