LAS VEGAS – Junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. of Phoenix will return to his hometown on July 17 for his first bout since the 17-year-old turned pro on a card Top Rank has scheduled amid controversy over Arizona’s new immigration law, including a World Boxing Council declaration Thursday urging Mexican boxers not to fight in the state.
Top Rank’s Bob Arum was not certain Thursday how, or if, the controversy would affect a card scheduled for Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb. The fight will happen before police are mandated to enforce the law, SB 1070, in late August, 90 days after the Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the legislation on April 23. However, there have been protests outside of the state capitol and nationwide during the last week, including demonstrations against Arizona Diamondbacks outside of Chicago’s Wrigley Field Thursday and calls for a business boycott of the state by activists angry at the potential for racial profiling.
“We’ll find out,’’ Arum said of the possible impact on plans for Benavidez’ homecoming. “If what I’m hearing on news reports, it is innocuous. If you are committing a crime and you’re stopped and then found to be illegal, what wrong with that? I don’t think the law allows police to stand outside the venue to check on the fans. But if does, then that’s horrendous.’’
WBC President Jose Sulaiman said Thursday in a prepared release from the sanctioning body’s headquarters in Mexico City that the organization has agreed it “will not authorize Mexican boxers to leave the country to fight professionally in Arizona, United States, due to the shameful, inhumane, and discriminatory anti-immigration law, which is no other thing than a flagrant violation to the basic principles of dignity and equality.’’
Arum asked that everybody, including Sulaiman, read the bill before passing judgment.
“Obviously, Sulaiman hasn’t read it,’’ Arum said. “He may well be justified. But first, we have to read the legislation. It’s like health-care. Everybody started screaming at each other before they had read the law. I’m not going to do that. Let’s study the legislation and then we can say something intelligently.’’
Arizona’s boxing history is closely linked to Mexican boxers. Julio Cesar Chavez’ career ended there in a loss a few years ago. Mexican-American Michael Carbajal, a Phoenix native, is in the Hall of Fame after a brilliant career as a junior-flyweight. Carbajal was a Mexican and Mexican-American favorite who fought in front of capacity crowds at then-America West Arena and old Veterans Memorial Coliseum during the 1990s.
Benavidez’ father said he has been following the controversy over Arizona’s immigration law. He and his son moved several months ago to Los Angeles. Jose Benavidez Jr., is trained by Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
“It’s really sad to watch,’’ said the senior Benavidez, who trained his son as an amateur at Central Boxing in Phoenix, a few blocks from the state’s capitol steps. “I really feel terrible for some of the people I know. Hopefully, my son can lift everybody up. Hopefully, we can do something positive.
“Everybody needs to know that we will be fighting for them.’’
