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Rites of Passage 18 rescheduled to July 3
Trench Tech promoter Cuki Alvarez has rescheduled Rites of Passage 18: Warpath to July 3 with the venue still being worked out.
Jadrien “BonBon” Camacho overpowers Jimmy Kaipat in last year’s Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble at the Saipan World Resort. Trench Tech will have its first fight event this year with Rites of Passage 18: Warpath. (Jon Perez)
The event was originally scheduled on May 15 at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort, but was cancelled due to Typhoon Dolphin passing the Marianas on the same day.
Organizers were about to push through with the fight that Friday night, but emergency officials advised them to call off the event to secure the safety of fighters and all the fans.
Alvarez, first, rescheduled the fight on June 19 but most of the fighters from the CNMI and Guam are not available on the date that is why they pushed it back to July 3, which is the Liberation Day weekend.
“We got a lot of positive feedback from the majority of the fighters. I got a consensus from all, July 3 is the best date for them,” said Alvarez. “And since it is the Liberation Day weekend, we believe it will draw a lot of fans looking for some excitement.”
He added that he is already working on securing a hotel sponsor for the event since Mango Resort is booked for the Asia-Pacific-Middle East Junior, Senior, and Big League Regional Tournament.
Alvarez said that he has already met with the owners of the Marianas Business Plaza to discuss the logistics and see if it is possible to hold the event at their parking lot.
“Also, we are working on having the event at the newly constructed solar panel parking lot of the Marianas Business Plaza. We’ll give and release more details at a latter time,” added Alvarez.
Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez (10-2) was about to fight High Blood Pressure’s Ernie Santos (5-0) for the vacant 125-lb flyweight belt in the Rites of Passage 18’s featured double main event.
The flyweight belt was vacated after it was stripped from Josh “Chaos” Duenas (4-5) following the former champion’s failure to defend his title for not making weight.
UMA Gym’s Jose “Young Blood” Ramirez (1-1) takes on Guam Muay Thai’s Eric “Gatty” Gatman (2-0) for the 155-lb lightweight strap.
There are also 14 undercard bouts, three of which are kickboxing matches, to be featured in ROP 18.
Alvarez said Trench Tech will honor ticketholders of the May 15 event for the July 3 fight.
