The cries against immigrants from the south reached a new crescendo last year with Senate Bill 1070, a law aimed at turning all Arizona police officers into immigration-enforcement agents.
A federal judge has blocked most of the relevant provisions of SB 1070 until courts determine whether they are constitutional.
Jamie Peachey
Santiago furiously punches Walter Santilbanes.
Jamie Peachey
Michelle Rosado and Arizona Boxing Commissioner Dennis O'Connell review
paperwork at a pre-fight weigh-in.
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Whether or not stringent provisions of the law ever go into effect, 1070's signing into law by Governor Jan Brewer soured the Mexico-based World Boxing Council on Arizona, and in April 2010, the council banned Mexican fighters from competing in the state.
The WBC issued a statement saying the state's anti-immigration efforts are "shameful, inhuman, and discriminatory."
Oscar de la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions and a famed Los Angeles ex-boxer with 10 world titles in his professional career, also stays away — and keeps his fighters away — from Arizona.
De la Hoya, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico, called 1070 a "racist" law in an interview with Norm Frauenheim of www.15rounds.com.
Rosado believes that she can move past such political sentiment by highlighting Valley up-and-comers, such as Emilio Colon-Garcia, Jose Benavidez Jr., and Santiago.
Her philosophy worked for her first Friday Night Fights show, which sold out.
She provided ringside seating for $60 per ticket. Those in the good seats were treated to good views of not only the fighters but traditional bikini-clad ring girls marking the start of each round, as well as access to drink-carrying waitresses.
General admission seating was $25.
Rosado plans to do it again at her second show, slated for July 22 at the Madison Events Center.
"I want to give these young boxers a chance to showcase their talents and give fans something to get excited about," she says.
She knows that it will take more than the occasional entertaining boxing show to win back boxing fans in Arizona. A local boxing champion that fans can rally around would help.
At Central Boxing Gym, one of the dozens of boxing facilities in the Valley, a stable of starry-eyed fighters train on punching bags, jab at invisible opponents, and jump rope furiously.
Eric Delgado Chavez, 25, who won his first amateur fight recently, shadowboxes in front of a wall of mirrors.
He spends 90 minutes training in the gym every evening and another hour running through Papago Park every morning.
"You gotta give up the good stuff," he says. "Junk food, drinking alcohol, staying out late partying.
"It's a sacrifice," he says. "But I just visualize myself winning a match, maybe one day becoming a successful professional boxer."
Santiago Castañeda, a manager and trainer at Central Boxing Gym, near 17th Avenue and Van Buren, has trained Valley fighters for 15 years. Castañeda doesn't lay all the blame for local boxing's demise on anti-immigrant laws. He says most local fighters haven't been willing to do what it takes over the past decade.
"If [enough] fighters don't take the sport seriously, the sport's not going to go anywhere," he says. "It takes a lot of dedication."
Arizona fans have not seen a local fighting sensation since Michael Carbajal, a four-time world light-flyweight (no more than 108 pounds) champion whose last bout was in 1999.
"It's such hard work," says Jose Benavidez Sr., whose son, Jose Benavidez Jr., is hailed as one of Arizona's top boxing prospects.
The undefeated 18-year-old light-welterweight (weight limit 140 pounds) went pro in January 2010 and has 10 wins under his belt, nine by knockout.
Jose Jr. fought at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7 — on the same ticket as the headlining, much-hyped welterweight (141-147 pounds) title fight between defending World Boxing Organization champion Manny "Pac-Man " Pacquiao and "Sugar" Shane Mosley, a former champion who'd hoped to regain the title. Benavidez Jr. and Pacquiao walked away with wins.
"It's pretty much sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice" for the young fighter, says Benavidez, who is managing his son's boxing career.
"Everyone wants to be a champion, and they work hard to get to where they win a few fights, and then they think they can kick back and relax," he says. "And Phoenix is so small they think they're superstars."
Benavidez says he has heard pitches from fly-by-night promoters who talk about reviving the sport, but he believes Michelle Rosado could be the real deal.
Rosado made frequent trips to local gyms to get to know trainers, managers, and fighters.
"When Michelle first came around talking about how she was going to bring back boxing, we were just thinking, 'Yeah, we've heard this before,'" he says.
It didn't take long for Benavidez to develop respect for Rosado, who has been a boxing fan since she sat in the living room of her Philadelphia home with her father and watched televised fights featuring legends Tommy "Hitman" Hearns, Mike Tyson, and Felix "Tito" Trinidad.
"With her first show, she's already proven that she's different," Benavidez says. "She has this nobody-is-going-to-mess-with-me attitude. I've never met anyone like her."
Before her first big event, the raven-haired diva, 31, wears the attitude Benavidez mentions as boldly as she wears her black, five-inch heels and black, tight dress with a plunging neckline.
She clicks around the Madison Events Center, checking on fighters, their trainers, a disc jockey, the ring announcer, the ring girls, and the volunteer event staff she had assembled, a team that includes her sister, Jennifer, a family friend, and a former neighbor. She also checks on the regular Madison event staff, including food vendors and security personnel.
