As we celebrate Filipino-American History Month 🇵🇭, we wanted to shine a light on two people in the Bay Area who have been uplifting their community by sharing their culture's connection to the sport of boxing.
Joe Aquilizan
@bayaniart - is an artist who has been collecting artifacts on a little known fighter named Francisco "Pancho Villa" Guilledo.
And Dr. Bernard Remollino
@bernardjaames - is a professor of Asian and Pacific American studies at
@sjdeltacollege and has written extensively about the Filipino-American diaspora, specifically the importance of boxing to his community during the farm labor movement.
Together, they created the perfect storm of knowledge and passion -- writing a book titled - Pancho Villa, World Champion, 1923.
Long before Manny Paciquao, Flash Elorde, Ceferino Garcia, Small Montana, and many others, there was Pancho Villa who became the first Filipino to win the World Flyweight Title in 1923, when he knocked out Jimmy Wilde in New York City.
This is the full story that aired on
@kpixtv during the 5pm show, and is just a snap shot of the good work they doing. I hope it did it justice.
A full documentary, based on the book is currently in the works by Jeremiah Ysip
@kapwakollektive - and the
@smithsonian has also curated a large portion of Joe's collection for an upcoming exhibit on the Filipino-American Experience next month.
Always a shoutout to the
@lisaachong for making the connections.
#panchovilla
#franciscoguilledo
#FilipinoAmericanHistoryMonth
#filipinoboxing
#mannypacquiao
#flashelorde
#kpix
@cbssacramento 
