By Norm Frauenheim –
Arizona’s early identity was once defined by a Chamber of Commerce kind of acronym – the five Cs – that stood for Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus and Climate.
Somehow, Cactus, Canyons and Crazy – as in growth – got left out. Like AZ itself, however, it’s a changing acronym, which means at least one more C.
C, for Contenders.
That one might evolve to mean Champions, but that depends on David Benavidez, Jesus Ramos and Elijah Garcia.
Average age: 26.66 years old. Garcia, of Phoenix, is 20. Ramos, of Casa Grande, is 22. Benavidez, also of Phoenix, is 26, a senior only in terms of experience.
Time belongs to all three. Their prime approaches, a strong sign that the state’s emergence as a primetime boxing market will continue.
Phoenix likes to brag about its status as a major-league market. Add boxing – forever confined to the so-called fringe in other cities — to a list that includes the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.
There are some questions about the NHL. At times, the Coyotes look as if they’ll melt away faster than ice in 120-degree heat. But boxing has moved into the arena that the Coyotes left.
It’s a working example of Rodney Dangerfield’s old joke, but with a twist. Went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out, Dangerfield cracked. The twist: The fight has replaced the hockey. At least, it has in Glendale.
At Desert Diamond Arena’s last card on August 12, Top Rank opened up some upper-level seats to accommodate the demand for Emanuel Navarrete’s dramatic decision over Oscar Valdez Jr. in a Fight-of-the-Year contender. More than 10,000 roared throughout 12 rounds of the junior-lightweight fight.
It was another sign of AZ’s place in real estate otherwise limited mostly to Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles.
Multiple reasons explain the state’s emergence. The population has exploded, including the Mexican and Mexican-American dynamic, the key demographic in boxing’s fan base.
But there’s more. From Hall-of-Famer Michael Carbajal in the 1990s and Louie Espinoza, Zora Folley and Jimmy Martinez before him, boxing has always been part of AZ. Gyms dot the Phoenix landscape like potholes. There are heavy bags hanging from tree limbs in backyards. There are kids skipping rope on sidewalks outside of downtown barber shops. There are rings inside of old churches and abandoned storefronts.
Fifteen years ago, Benavidez, Ramos and Garcia were among those kids. They, like the market, have emerged, almost on parallel paths.
Of the three, Benavidez is the best known, mostly because of his long, still futile, pursuit of a showdown with Canelo Alvarez, the unified super-middleweight champion.
As of Thursday, Benavidez, who lives and trains in Seattle these days, was still in talks for a deal to fight Demetrius Andrade later this year.
Meanwhile, Benavidez, who fights with Phoenix stitched across the back belt of his trunks, can only continue to win while waiting on Canelo.
The Mexican pay-per-view star has a date with Jermell Charlo on Sept. 30. He’s also talking about a fight with welterweight Terence Crawford, who left no doubt about his pound-for-pound dominance in a stunning stoppage of Errol Spence Jr., a month ago.
Crawford, too, is talking about fighting Canelo at a catch weight. First, however, he’s obligated to fight Spence in a rematch.
As expected, Spence exercised his contractual right to a rematch, according to multiple reports Thursday.
No news yet on date or site. No news either on the weight. After Crawford’s one-sided victory at 147 pounds, Spence said he would want the rematch to be at 154.
Meanwhile, nobody is talking about Benavidez.
But, again, Benavidez has time. His prime awaits. Canelo or no Canelo, his future is still very much intact, probably at light-heavyweight. He says he’ll fight three more times at super-middleweight before moving up the scale in perhaps a goodbye to Canelo, whose primetime appears to be slip, slip-sliding away.
While Benavidez continues to train and hope for a big payday against Canelo, he and the AZ connection are sure to be there throughout the build-up for Canelo-Charlo.
Ramos and Garcia will make that angle inescapable. Both will be featured on the Showtime pay-per-view undercard – Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) against contender Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs) at junior-middleweight and Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) against Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) at middleweight.
Ramos and Garcia appeared together on the same stage Tuesday at a news conference in Los Angeles. For the first time, they’ll appear together on a PPV card.
For both, it’s another fight in a year that has brought them to prominence. Already, both are ranked among the top contenders by the various sanctioning bodies.
Ramos, currently as hot as any prospect in boxing, is ranked among the first five at 154 pounds.
Garcia, who continues to wear the 602 Phoenix area code across the front of his waistband, is among the top 10 at 160.
“This has been the biggest year of my life,’’ said Garcia, whose goal is to be a 21-year-old world champion “It’s been crazy, a snap of a finger and I’m blowing up.’’
For Ramos, Lubin represents another step in a process he hopes will further prepare him for his chance at a major title.
“I’m going to take a lot from fighting Lubin,’’ Ramos said. “After this fight, I’ll be a different fighter. …
“”Whatever I have to do to win, I’m ready for. I’m here to dominate. I want to make a statement, and in order to do that, I have to dominate. That’s the plan.’’
While watching Garcia and Ramos share a stage, I could only wonder whether they might share a ring one day, maybe on a card featuring Benavidez in his prime.
A lot more would have to happen for that one to become a plan and then an opening bell. Above all, they’d have to keep winning, enough for each to win a major belt. For now, at least, they’re close enough in weight.
From A to Z, they’re also products of a market place poised to add another champion or three to its legacy of Cs.
