Beltran’s knockout win boosts case for green card
Boxer likely to meet government’s ‘extraordinary athlete’ status
Ray Beltran put himself in line to realize both of his dreams — a world title shot and a new life — with a spectacular knockout victory of Jonathan Maicelo.
Beltran (33-7-1) had been told by immigration experts ahead of Saturday night’s bout that climbing into mandatory challenger position for the IBF lightweight title would likely prove to be the decisive factor in his long fight to become a green card holder after entering the United States as an illegal immigrant from Mexico as a teenager.
That gave his title-eliminator scrap with Maicelo higher stakes than any of his previous contests and led to joyous celebrations from the 36-year-old and his camp at Madison Square Garden.
“There was so much to think about before this fight,” Beltran told USA TODAY Sports by telephone Sunday morning as he prepared to return home to his wife and three children in Phoenix.
“All I have ever wanted was to have success in boxing, to be able to provide for my family, and to get a green card — then citizenship — to secure our future.”
Beltran’s situation was first featured by USA TODAY Sports last week, in the opening story of our Sports on the Border series. During camp, the twin pressures of facing a dangerous puncher in Maicelo and dealing with the immigration process were grinding on Beltran.
Now, however, his bid to convince the immigration authorities that he is worthy of the “extraordinary athlete” status needed to qualify for the EB-1 green card typically available to certain sportspeople, entertainers and masters of the arts and sciences should be a formality. Recently, he has been in the USA under an athletic visa but risked deportation when that document expired.
Although the fight with Maicelo (25-3) ended quickly, it contained plenty of drama. Less than a minute in, the pair bumped heads, wounding Maicelo in his hairline and creating a cut above Beltran’s left eye.
Beltran fell to the canvas after the collision, yet despite the headbutt clearly being the cause, referee David Fields still ruled it a knockdown.
In the second round, Maicelo came out firing and looked to have Beltran on the back foot before the Peruvian was crushed by a fierce left hook that sent him tumbling to the canvas and instantly ended the fight. The bout was the co-main feature to Ter- ence Crawford’s 10th-round TKO win against Felix Diaz in defense of the WBC and WBO junior welterweight titles.
“It would have been easy to give up,” Beltran added. “There were many times I thought about it, especially a few years ago when my career wasn’t going anywhere. It was the thought of how important this is for the future of my family. That is what kept me going.”
Beltran is now the mandatory challenger for the IBF lightweight title held by Robert Easter Jr. Yet even without a title — at least not yet — his biggest fight might already be won.