PHOENIX – The calls have been coming from everywhere, from old friends and family. What the hell is wrong with Arizona?
I’m not sure how to answer that one, how to explain the damage done, the anguish felt in a state that has been home for more than 30 years. There simply is no explanation for the Tucson tragedy last Saturday that left six dead and 13 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. I only know that it is another piece in a jagged puzzle. Unfortunately, it fits, fits like a sharp piece of broken glass. The puzzle? It’s still there.
Maybe, this is what anarchy is supposed to look like.
I don’t know. I’ll let somebody smarter, somebody from MSNBC or Fox News, figure that one out. After the toxic, still unresolved controversy about immigration and political campaigns full of fear-mongering lies about headless bodies buried in the desert, it’s hard to be optimistic about Arizona, where there must be something foul in what little water we do have. Maybe, friend and 15 Rounds colleague Bart Barry was right with his poignant column several months ago. He definitively answered the question with a moving van. He got the hell out, left Arizona and its state of fear, for San Antonio.
During the last few days, there have been moments when I wished I had been a stowaway, a refugee, from this state known for the Grand Canyon, also a metaphor for Arizona’s deep divisions between white and brown, Anglo and Latino, Spanish and Inglés.
But on Thursday I found a reason not to look for a new area code. I found some optimism. I found it in a gym. There was Jose Benavidez, Jr., sparring in a ring set up in old storeroom behind a patchwork of shops on hardscrabble west Van Buren Street in a Phoenix neighborhood where Spanglish is spoken.
The junior-welterweight prospect is home after about a year in Los Angeles at the Wild Card Gym with famed trainer Freddie Roach. Benavidez and his father, Jose Sr., split with Roach for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. There has been speculation about problems between Roach and Benavidez, Sr. Not true, say father and son. Roach has been busy with Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The split with Roach was mutual, both say. The prospect and the trainer are still friends, they say.
Above all, the son is simply happy to be back. Forget author Thomas Wolfe’s defining line about not being able to go home again For Benavidez, home has been changed dramatically by the immigration debate raging over SB 1070. There also is proposed legislation that would overturn the 14th Amendment and deny citizenship to so-called anchor babies, those born to parents in the U.S. illegally.
If there had been no birthright citizenship before 2008, there would have been no Henry Cejudo at the Beijing Games. Cejudo, who grew up in Phoenix and has trained with Benavidez, was one of the best stories at the last Olympics. His gold-medal in freestyle wrestling was captured forever in a photo of him racing across the mat with the American flag flying off his shoulders like superman’s cape. Cejudo, who will return to wrestling in a bid for more Olympic gold after going 2-0 as an amateur boxer, was born in Los Angeles to former illegal immigrants. If Arizona legislators succeed, they could eliminate the next Cejudo, the next American victory. But that’s another story for another time.
For now, it’s about Benavidez and his hopes for the kind of fan base that is loyal, unique and often can define a fighter. Think of Michael Carbajal. He would have been a terrific junior-flyweight anywhere. If he had not generated a large following in Arizona, however, he would not have emerged as somebody special, a Hall of Famer. Benavidez is still a fighter without that identity, a man without a country. Throughout nine pro bouts, the unbeaten Benavidez has yet to fight in his home state, much less his hometown. Top Rank plans for his Phoenix debut last summer were scuttled when TV Azteca and sponsor Tecate decided they didn’t want to do business in Arizona because of SB 1070.
Benavidez and his father even had anti-SB 1070 T-shirts made. They had had planned to wear them at a bout in Chicago, but the shirts were lost before opening bell of a first-round knockout of Ronnie Peterson. Benavidez said he still plans to wear one, possibly at his next fight Jan. 22 at Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas against Francisco Rodriquez (5-1) of Dallas. If not Vegas, maybe he’ll wear one in Phoenix. Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler said he has clearance from TV Azteca to proceed with plans for a Benavidez bout in Arizona.
The controversy has subsided, Trampler said.
“We’re actively looking to do a fight here that would highlight Benavidez,’’ Trampler said Thursday as he watched the 140-pound prospect spar.
The renewed plans must sound like Home, Sweet Home to Benavidez. Throughout nine bouts on the road, he has worn Phoenix on his trunks like a varsity letter. His loyalty is there to see. And hear.
“This is my home, and of course that’s not going to change,’’ Benavidez said. “I was raised here. If I ever become famous, I want to bring that Arizona part of me with me. It’s going to happen. Everything, I guess, happens for a reason. My friends and my family tell me just to have patience. They know who I am, where I’m from. They always tell me how proud they are when they see the Phoenix, Arizona, on my trunks.’’
Benavidez’ tone was that of somebody who wanted to fight instead of flee despite the dispiriting succession of events that have kept his home state in turmoil and now tragedy. As I listened to the 18-year-old Benavidez, I couldn’t help but think of another Mexican-American and fellow Arizonan.
He is 20-year Daniel Hernandez, a University of Arizona sophomore who rushed to Rep. Gifford’s side seconds after she was shot through the head. He stopped the bleeding, perhaps long enough to save her life. At a memorial Thursday at Arizona’s McKale Center, Hernandez said he wasn’t a hero. Instead, he talked about a moment that he said would eliminate divisions and unite Arizona.
I hope he is right. I only know for sure that Hernandez will be my answer for the next out-of-state call with questions about my home. Hernandez is one reason to believe that Arizona can begin to pick up the pieces and start over. Benavidez is another.
