By Norm Frauenheim-
Arizona’s dramatic, often controversial and thoroughly unpredictable boxing market is back and open for business Wednesday with a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card at Glendale’s Gila River Arena that is the biggest in the state since Julio Cesar Chavez’ career ended in a 2005 loss to an Omaha car salesman.
Chavez’ experience in Arizona doesn’t sum up the state’s boxing history. Nothing really could. But Chavez, the greatest champion in a long line of Mexican legends, is a good sign that – from A to Z – most anything can happen and often does. Chavez won everywhere but AZ.
He was 0-2 in the state, losing a sixth-round TKO to Kostya Tszyu in 2000 and retiring for good on the stool after five rounds against Grover Wiley in 2005.
Then, there’s Tzsyu, who beat Sharmba Mitchell in a third-round stoppage in 2004 at the same Glendale arena in what was then seen as a potential steppingstone to a big-money bout with Oscar De La Hoya. In his next fight, Tszyu lost a 2005 stunner to Ricky Hatton in Manchester, England. Tszyu never fought again. Who knew?
Strange things happen in AZ.
Good things, too.
Home grown junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal, a forerunner to current flyweight and pound-for- king Roman Gonzalez, came off some of Phoenix’s toughest streets and fought his way into the Hall of Fame during the 1990s. Late legend Salvador Sanchez, boxing’s version of James Dean, won his first major title at old Veterans Memorial Coliseum in downtown Phoenix, scoring a 13th-round stoppage of Danny Lopez in February 1980 for the WBC version of the featherweight crown.
It’s the good that Devon Alexander (26-3, 14 KOs), a welterweight from St. Louis, seeks Wednesday in the ESPN-televised main event (6 pm. PT/9 p.m. ET) at the NHL arena next door to the Arizona Cardinals stadium.
It’s a chance for Alexander, a former champ at 147 and 140 pounds, to get his career back on track since a loss last December to Amir Khan. But it doesn’t look as if that will be as easy as it might appear. His opponent, Aaron Martinez (19-4-1, 4 KOs) of Los Angeles has lost his last two, but there’s a good argument he got robbed in split decision loss to the accomplished Robert Guerrero in June.
In another televised bout, IBF featherweight champ Lee Selby (21-1, 8 KOs) of Wales makes his U.S. debut against Mexican technician Fernando Montiel (54-4-2, 39 KOs). Montiel’s resume makes him an intriguing opponent for Selby, who joins Leo Santa Cruz, Abner Mares and Carl Frampton on Al Haymon’s featherweight roster. Nonito Donaire launched his career, putting himself into the pound-for-pound conversation with a sensational stoppage of Montiel in 2011.
The PBC undercard, a joint promotion with Phoenix-based Ring Pros, includes Ukranian lightweight prospect Ivan Redkach (18-1, 14 KOs) against Mexican Erick Martinez (11-2-1, 5 KOs). The non-televised part of the card is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
The PBC show is the first of three televised cards in AZ during the next two-and-a-half weeks.
On Oct. 17, Top Rank and Phoenix-based Iron Boy will co-promote a UniMas show at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix featuring Las Vegas featherweight Jessie Magdaleno (21-0, 15 KOs) against Filipino Vergel Nebran (14-9-1, 9 KOs).
The following Friday (Oct. 23) also at Celebrity, Iron Boy and Roy Jones Jr. will co-promote a Sho-Box-televised card featuring unbeaten Minnesota middleweight Rob Brant (17-0, 11 KOs) against Louis Rose (13-2-1, 5 KOs), of Lynwood, Calif.
