Dennis O'Connell, head of the Arizona Boxing Commission, says his office licensed six professional boxing events in 2010, compared to 15 mixed-martial-arts fights. So far this year, there are nine boxing and nine MMA shows on the ABC's books.
A decade ago, Richard Soto says, professional boxing matches were happening once or twice a month in Phoenix and nearly every Friday night in Tucson.
Jamie Peachey
Michelle Rosado and Alexis "Beaver" Santiago, a Phoenix fan favorite.
Jamie Peachey
Martin Vierra (left) battles Marco Mendias
during the first Friday Night Fights event in Phoenix.
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"We are bringing boxing back, slowly but surely," he says.
Overcoming MMA competition might be easier than moving past the corruption that has tainted the sport.
Shady industry players have cheated fighters and trainers out of money, set up unevenly matched fights to unfairly boost the reputation and rank of boxers, and called immigration authorities to report fighters who are in the United States illegally to avoid paying them.
One of the most storied boxing scandals in Arizona culminated last month.
On April 1, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson sentenced former Top Rank promoter Peter McKinn to five months in jail and six years' probation for his role in a scheme to defraud a local boxing trainer and fighter.
Court records show that McKinn, as part of a plea deal, admitted that he cheated trainer Joe Diaz and his boxer, Ramon Campas, out of money he owed them for a fight in 2004.
McKinn's team of attorneys helped him dodge punishment for nearly seven years, but Diaz and Campas continued fighting for justice.
The criminal case stemmed from a bad $5,000 check McKinn wrote to Diaz for a light-middleweight title fight in May 2004.
"McKinn acted deliberately to avoid responsibility for passing a bad check. He involved others in criminal activity that occurred over a significant period of time, May 8, 2004, to September 20, 2009. [Diaz and Campas] have repeatedly indicated how McKinn's actions affected their . . . lives, and livelihoods," Anderson's ruling states.
McKinn finally pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges of theft and solicitation to commit forgery and perjury.
Diaz, at Rosado's press conference before her first Friday Night Fights event, said he considers McKinn's sentencing a positive sign for Valley boxing.
"A lot of time has been lost," he said, referring to the six years it took for him and Campas to see McKinn go down and to the scandal's damage to the local boxing scene. But he praised Rosado's efforts to restore interest in his sport and proclaimed that "clean air is coming for boxing."
Rosado will join forces again with Tucson boxing promoter Reggie Demic for round two of Friday Night Fights, on July 22 at Madison Events Center.
If she hopes to keep stoking her reputation, she needs to deliver the same level of excitement that fans experienced during her première fight card.
The final bout that night — the main event — is an especially bloody exchange of blows between welterweight fighters Martin Vierra and Marco Mendias.
During round five, Vierra delivers multiple shots to Mendias' face, sending blood, sweat, and saliva into ringside seats. Mendias appears stunned but comes back with jabs to Vierra's ribs.
The fighters continue their bloody dance until the bell gives them a 60-second reprieve.
The bell for round six, the last in the main event, brings the fighters, slathered with Vaseline, out of their corners for more.
More jabs. More uppercuts. More body blows. With each punch, the audience eggs on the fighters to ramp up the aggression.
Chase Corbin, training in Las Vegas with Jeff Mayweather (uncle of famed welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather), was supposed to fight Vierra, but he pulled out because of a family emergency.
Mendias proves to be a good last-minute replacement.
The final bell rings, the men retire to their corners, and announcer Richard Soto enters the ring. Soto reaches over the ropes to get the scorecard from the judges, calls the fighters to the center of the ring, and the referee raises Vierra's arms in a split decision over Mendias.
Rosado has settled into her own corner of Madison, next to the disc jockey and the ring girls, margarita in hand.
She watches the battered fighters leave the ring. She watches the fans. She downs the last of her cocktail, a look of satisfaction spreading across her face.
She thinks her father would be proud.
Rosado didn't make money on her first boxing event. But she says turning a profit doesn't matter at this stage of her career.
"These things take time," she says. "This was our first event, and it was a huge hit. It was surreal."
In her interview with Jackie Kallen, Rosado said that the success of her first Friday Night Fights event proves she is here to stay in the local boxing business.
"People in boxing can now see that I know what I'm doing," she boasted to the original fight diva. "[They can see] that I am serious about it."
