Philadelphia, PA, WPH Press, 6/8/25
Tournament directors Rigoalberto Charriez and Justin Rodriguez played host to the prestigious 2025 Battle of the Kings 1-Wall big ball open doubles tournament at Hunting Park Playground in Philadelphia, PA on the fourth Saturday in May. The 2025 Battle of the Kings featured forty-eight of the best 1-Wall big ball players in the United States, to include Timbo Gonzalez, Tywan Cook, Carlin Rosa, Los Pena, Kadeem Bush, and Pito Velez.
Team Timbo/Kadeem upset Battle of the Kings defending champions Team Paulie/Miggz in the quarterfinals and defeated Team Rosa in the semifinals to make the final in the upper bracket, while Team Tywan/Edwin advanced to the final in the bottom bracket by defeating Team Pena/Tavo in the bottom bracket semifinal.
Team Timbo/Kadeem led 5-4 early in the one game to 21 final, but Team Tywan/Edwin took control from there, building 13-8 and 19-10 leads on the strengths of Edwin’s steady right side play and Tywan’s prolific offense. Team Timbo/Kadeem mounted a charge, improbably cutting the deficit to one at 19-20. “Kadeem was tired they was winning a lot (of points),” Timbo would later say. “I made a big run to keep the game close but Kadeem had no gas left in the tank.”
Team Tywan/Edwin earned a side out at 19-20 and after a half-out on Edwin’s serve, Tywan hit a kill that Timbo disputed to end the match. “They gave them a kill shot on a skip ball at 19-20 and I should have been up serving if they made the right call and (the ref) did not go with the short line call, which he said ball was under,” a furious Timbo stated, not feeling the brotherly love for which Philadelphia is famous.
*Watch the tournament-ending kill shot at 50:30 in the TensFinest link below.
Final: Team Tywan/Edwin def Team Timbo/Kadeem 21-19
Watch the 2025 Battle of the Kings Final, courtesy of TensFinest HERE
Thank you to tournament directors Rigoalberto Charriez and Justin Rodriguez and tournament volunteers Sam Clutch and Wally Amaro for a great event at Hunting Park Playground.
Trophy picture courtesy of Rigoalberto Charriez
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer