Ronnie Nathanielsz

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 (now Sri Lanka) in 1935. He was the eldest son of Elmo Nathanielsz and his wife Phyllis (née 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 and Philippine Daily Inquirer newspapers. He was also involved in various sports promotions in boxing. At the Philippine Basketball Association 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.