Quality main event thrills Phoenix-area boxing fans
The timing of Friday night’s Top Rank on ESPN live boxing event in the Phoenix area couldn’t have been much better. And the few thousand who were there for the Emanuel Navarrete-Liam Wilson WBO junior lightweight title fight saw a good one.
Wilson, a 26-year-old Australian with 12 pro fights of experience who took the fight as a replacement, knocked down two-division world champion Navarrete in the fifth round in front of a crowd that was clearly on Navarrete’s side, chanting “Mexico! Mexico!” and “Si Se Puede!” for him.
Navarrete landed some shots, but Wilson’s punching power had the crowd cringing when he landed. Still, Navarrete gathered himself, stung Wilson in the seventh round and opened up a cut under his nose, floored Wilson in the ninth and forced Wilson’s corner to call for an end to the fight. Navarrete improved to 37-1, the crowd rose to its feet and roared. All for $25 a ticket.
Phoenix and surrounding communities are about to host Super Bowl 57, and the eyes of the nation and world are on the desert metropolis. And the precursor to a big week of sports in the area was the night of fights in Glendale.
Two months ago, Matchroom Boxing put together a quality fight card that ended in a memorable 12-round, full-distance slugfest won by Juan Francisco Estrada over Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. The two fighters have Boxing Hall of Fame credentials.
Showtime put on two successful shows at the former home of the Coyotes, the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva pay-perview last October and the David Benavidez-David Lemieux card in May.
Friday night was Top Rank’s turn to come through town, and although only half of the lower bowl was used for
seating, it was mostly full by the time the three-fight main portion of the card started.
Benavidez is the current standard bearer for Arizona boxing, though he now lives and trains in the Seattle area. The Phoenix native is set to fight Caleb Plant for the WBC title belt in a battle of two of the top super middleweights in the sport on March 25 in Las Vegas.
People were talking about it Friday at the fights. The heat generated from an expletive-filled, insult-throwing press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday to promote the fight only increased the hype.
Benavidez (26-0) brings with him to the MGM Grand Garden a nickname be picked up from the one and only Mike Tyson last year: The Mexican Monster. He vowed to beat Plant in six rounds or less and put him in the hospital, after Plant reminded everyone watching the press conference that Benavidez lost the title belt once for a positive test for cocaine and lost it again for not making weight.
Though the Benavidez camp has relocated to the Pacific Northwest, the family is still revered in Phoenix after both David and older brother José started their pro careers in the city.
The March 25 card could feature more Arizona-grown talent. Another Premier Boxing Champions fighter, undefeated junior middleweight Jesús Ramos Jr. of Casa Grande, is reportedly part of the night, according to Boxing Scene. Ramos attended Friday’s fights.
“I just feel like Arizona is becoming a new big (boxing)city. You know, I mean, everybody wants to come out here and do their thing. Kind of make it a new Vegas,” Phoenix-raised fighter Eduardo Ayala said. “It’s amazing to have the Arizona talent be featured. It brings everybody out in Arizona, you know, makes them proud. So it’s just great. It’s growing.”
Friday night was another chance for the local fight fans to put on a show for the TV cameras. The fighters posed for photos with fans in the seats. Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Will
Hernandez posed for a photo with former U.S. Olympian Richard Torrez Jr., whose heavyweight fight ended in a stoppage after one round when Torrez knocked down James Bryant and Bryant couldn’t make it to the center of the ring for Round 2.
People sang along to Mexican classics played by a deejay.
Only one local fighter appeared, 30year-old Ayala of north Phoenix. Ayala came up through the ranks of local promotion Iron Boy and got his big chance against Nico Ali Walsh, the grandson of the late Muhammad Ali who is forging his own path in the sport.
The fight went the six-round distance with Walsh winning a unanimous decision, but afterward, Walsh walked into Ayala’s locker room and thanked him for the opportunity in a classy gesture.
Walsh drew a few boos from the Phoenix crowd, but his knockdown of Ayala in the second round set the stage for his victory.
Another son of a legend, Emiliano Fernando Vargas, opened the night with a unanimous decision over Francisco Duque of Mexico for his third career win. Vargas, 18, had his father Fernando, a former two-time super welterweight champion, in his corner.
Veteran promoter Bob Arum was among the first to congratulate Navarrete on his win, sitting ringside near one of boxing’s top trainers, Robert Garcia.
Arum indicated he would bring another Top Rank event back to the Phoenix area.
“I’m made of strength and power and that Mexican spirit that never lets me down,” Navarrete said in the ring in Spanish. “I want to prove that I’m capable of earning those big championship fights.”
Oscar Valdez of Tucson was supposed to be one to face Navarrete, but pulled out due to injury.
He was jeered by some of the crowd when he spoke, saying his fight with Navarrete will eventually take place.