Cuki Alvarez poses for a photo after setting up a new boxing ring for the “Ring of Fire” boxing/kickboxing event slated for the end of the year.
COMBAT sports are being revived in the CNMI, Cuki Alvarez said, adding that he and the rest of the Trench Tech crew set up a new boxing ring on Saturday.
“As you know, our Trench Warz MMA Promotions was put on halt after Typhoon Yutu devastated the islands and infrastructure back in 2018. Then right as we were getting back to normal, we got hit with the global Covid-19 pandemic,” Alvarez said.
“During the past five years, Trench Tech really had no choice but to stop the MMA events altogether. [But] we stayed active at the gym and continued training as much as we could, given the circumstances,” he added.
“In Sept. 2022 when the pandemic finally eased up, the interest in bringing back fight events arose once more,” Alvarez said.
While no combat sport was available, fans had been very fond of the kickboxing classes at the Trench Tech gym for the past year, he added.
“More and more members have enrolled and have been consistently training. A lot of them stay after class and have been engaging in live sparring. And as they advance in their skillset, the interest in competing and testing out their skills in an actual competition came about and we have been talking about bringing back some ‘fight action’ to accommodate their desires — not to mention, it’s been a long time since Saipan has seen this type of action and the CNMI needs a healthy dose of fight entertainment,” Alvarez said.
With the growing interest in kickboxing and boxing among Trench Tech members, Alvarez said he has focused the team’s efforts more on stand-up fighting style, “so it was a no-brainer to host events that can accommodate them in this respect.”
He said “it was always one of our intentions to have some amateur boxing and kickboxing, especially for the younger kids. And we’ve actually had this boxing ring for over three years, but it’s been in storage all this time since we had no immediate plans on having any shows because of the dilemma we faced with the pandemic.”
The forthcoming event is dubbed the “Ring of Fire.”
“For now, no particular date or matches have been locked down,” Alvarez said, adding that he and his team “are still working out all the logistics with the venue, potential sponsors, and of course, matches. We are in the infancy stages at the moment as far as putting together a full-blown show, but as I mentioned, we are focusing on giving kids the opportunity to compete in an amateur setting. It is our goal to have something happen before the end of the year.”
Alvarez is hopeful that this will build interest, and more kids will be willing to compete in the future.
The islands’ Mixed Martial Arts fans have not been forgotten, he said. “Our octagon cage is still in good condition. It did suffer some minor water damage from all the storms but has been in storage since Typhoon Yutu. We will eventually bring back full-blown MMA to the CNMI, but we want to focus more on amateur events, and many of our students want to compete in boxing and kickboxing at these current times.”
Alvarez added, “Trench Tech has always prided itself in bringing top level combat sports entertainment to the fight fans of the CNMI since 2005. We held numerous exciting MMA, boxing, kickboxing and grappling matches and events in our octagon cage for our Trench Warz and Rites of Passage and The Art of War events over the years. I feel that everything is all about timing, and once the timing is right, we will eventually bring back our cage fights.”
For now, “we will continue to build our up-and-coming fighter athletes and give them a stage where they can test their skills in actual competition, and hopefully assist them in improving, and perhaps one day give them the experience to compete at the pro level,” Alvarez said.
“The world of boxing has blown up the past couple years,” he said, and he believes “that it is where there is money to be made for the athletes. The team at Trench Tech is happy to help our kids get the exposure and experience they are seeking and perhaps groom them for bigger and better things.”
The slated weight classes for the “Ring of Fire” are:
101-120lbs atomweight
121-130lbs flyweight
131-140lbs bantamweight
141-150lbs featherweight
151-160lbs lightweight
161-170lbs welterweight
171-180lbs middleweight
181-205lbs light heavy weight
206- 250lbs heavyweight
