Paulie Malignaggi is not from Arizona. I am, which must mean there is reasonable cause to suspect my sanity.
As I sit here wearing a Los Suns jersey with passport, an Arizona driver’s license and enough money for bail nearby just in case Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sees the Los and translates it into reasonable suspicion, I listen to Malignaggi go off on a rant that in tone sounded like the screaming that has turned this piece of the desert into an overheated corner of the immigration debate.
I’m not sure of everything said by Malignaggi, who was talking Thursday from New York about concerns that Amir Khan had yet to acquire proper documentation – a work permit – for their welterweight clash on May 15 in The Theatre at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Malignaggi conceded he was animated, which is beyond the capability of an ordinary digital recorder. An F-16 in hot pursuit is quieter.
But it is safe to say that Malignaggi, a New Yorker, is angry at the attempted car bombing late Saturday night at Times Square by Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan. Pakistan is also home for Khan’s parents, who immigrated to Britain where their son was born in Greater Manchester, took up boxing and won a 2004 Olympic silver medal for the UK.
Malignaggi started talking about a grandfather, who travels between Italy and New York. For the last few summers, he said, his granddad has been stopped at customs “like some kind of criminal.’’ After what almost transpired at Times Square, Malignaggi says U.S. immigration has been stopping the wrong guy.
“It’s a bleeping joke, when you got guys already in the country, blowing shit up or looking to blow the shit up’’ said Malignaggi, who is confident Khan will get the papers he needs for his first fight in the United States.
I’ve heard the same sentiment yelled from street corners, screamed in headlines and by grandstanding politicians in the debate over SB 1070, Arizona’s new immigration law. The dumbest grandstand play came from the World Boxing Council’s Jose Sulaiman, who declared that the WBC would not “authorize” Mexican boxers to fight in Arizona. I’m not sure whether Sulaiman got a sanction fee for the edict, but, please, since when did the WBC gain the authority to issue Mexican passports?
Sulaiman’s rush to grab a headline sums up a stampede to capitalize on a controversy that is reaching ridiculous proportions. The Boycott Bandwagon is getting very crowded. Like a lot of people, I don’t like the Arizona legislation because reasonable suspicion, like driving erratically, is in the eye of the beholder. If you look down to change the radio station and inadvertently cross the white line for a split second, the cop behind you could decide you are driving erratically. Make sure you’ve got your papers and leave the Los Suns jersey at home.
The immigration issue is especially relevant to boxing, which is more international than any sport other than soccer. As of Thursday, there are all kinds of rumors as to why Khan has been unable to get a work permit. He left Los Angeles about 12 days ago for Vancouver, B.C., to apply for a work permit. According to Golden Boy Promotions Chief Operating Officer David Itskowitch, the hope is that the papers will be arrive in time for Khan to be in New York by Monday. The process has been underway since early March.
“This process has been going on since way before anything happened in Times Square,” Itskowitch said.
But it’s not clear why the process has taken so long.
“We don’t know,” he said. “The only thing we’re told is that an administrative process is going on and that they don’t divulge that kind of information.’’
There were questions Thursday about whether Khan’s name, Pakistani roots or the failed bombing at Times Square has held up the process.
“We don’t what it is,’’ Itskowitch said. “We have no indication.’’
Khan’s father told the Bolton News, the boxer’s hometown newspaper, blames the delay on the name and not for reported driving offenses.
“The delay is nothing to do with his motoring convictions as has been reported,’’ Shah Khan told the newspaper. “It is because of his name.
“Because of what happened on 9/11, Amir gets stopped every time we come into the country.
An application for work permit is a more comprehensive process, Shah Khan said.
“He always gets interviewed and is asked which countries he has visited, but now they know him and know who he is, the interviews are not as rigorous.
“But with a visa application there are certain checks that have to be made and it takes time. I don’t blame them and we have nothing to hide.”
For Arizona, there is a surprising twist in a process forcing Khan to get a work permit. About two years ago, boxing in Arizona was brought to virtual standstill by immigration law that required fighters from Mexico or any other country to get a work visa, a so-called P-1. They had been allowed to fight with a tourist visa, which is easier and less expensive to acquire. The law forced prospect Erislandy Lara, a junior-middleweight prospect who escaped Cuba, off a Golden Boy card last June in Tucson. Lara, who had fought in Europe before moving to the U.S., did not get a work visa in time to fight on the Arizona card.
But the requirement for work visa has been changed, according to Dennis O’Connell, the new chief of the Arizona State Boxing Commission.
“I have confirmed that you need to establish a lawful presence in the state,’’ O’Connell said.
That means a tourist visa again works. It also means boxing is beginning to come back to Arizona, a state with a colorful history that includes Mexican Salvador Sanchez, Mexican icon Julio Cesar Chavez and Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello.
Top Rank has scheduled a card for July 17, which will feature junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr., at Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in his first bout in Phoenix, his hometown, since he turned pro a few months ago. Other smaller cards have been scheduled for the next month, two in Phoenix and one in Tucson.
Each card is an opportunity for boxing. The Suns expressed their opposition to the Arizona legislation Wednesday with Cinco de Mayo-null uniforms in an NBA playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs. Agree or disagree, a boycott only hurts the Mexican and Mexican American boxer. It also is reasonable cause to suspect that Sulaiman and crowd of other grandstanders care about them or an immigration controversy that is a lot bigger than Arizona. They care only about themselves.
