SAN FRANCISCO – Sixteen years after beginning his professional boxing career and three years after rebuilding it the first time, Manuel “Tino” Avila will try to revive it once more in his home region.
Avila will face Charly Suarez on July 11 in a 10-round junior lightweight bout in an event that will take place at the Civic Center Plaza near San Francisco’s City Hall.
Avila, 26-2-1 (9 KOs), was once an unbeaten Golden Boy Promotions prospect. He spent years being built up as a regional attraction through bouts co-promoted by Don Chargin and Paco Damian. In many of those bouts, Avila fought in his hometown of Fairfield, California (about an hour and a half from San Francisco). Then his career hit turbulence. He lost to Joseph Diaz Jnr on the opening bout of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr pay-per-view card. He rebuilt, only to be stopped by Joet Gonzalez in 2019.
Avila returned to the ring in 2023, winning two fights – including a stoppage of tough local rival Alberto Torres. Then came more adversity, and he hasn’t fought since.
“People wonder about my inactivity,” Avila told BoxingScene. “I had to take time off due to my wife having a cancer scare in her liver. She had to have the surgery to remove it.”
Even after the procedure, Avila’s 34-year-old wife was slow to recover. The weight didn’t come back on easily. At one point during the ordeal, she had lost nearly 100 pounds. Today, she is cancer-free and gaining weight, but the nightmare that endured years for the couple prompted Avila to reassess things.
“I had to take time off work. I had to put boxing on the backburner, and I took care of my three kids,” Avila said. “Now, everything is turning around.”
Avila’s return is extra-special not only for the fighter and his family. The promoter Damian helped build Avila when both were young men just starting out. They are now reaching big stages, the latest being Thursday’s press conference held on a yacht that toured the San Francisco Bay area. Damian, well respected in his stock and trade, helps broker fights across the world. Avila is eager to finish a similar climb in his own vocation and land a major fight.
When Avila was making his comeback, Damian was hesitant – until a particular moment.
“One time I was promoting a show in Cache Creek, and he called me and asked for an opportunity,” Damian told BoxingScene. “I told him, ‘I have the weigh-in tomorrow, can you come?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I asked him to come to see what kind of shape he was in, and when he showed up, I was completely impressed – and that is when I knew he was serious about coming back.”
Avila won a split decision over Ruben Garcia Hernandez on May 1 in Mexico. The bout has springboarded him into a fight with Suarez, of Manila, Philippines. Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), saw controversy cloud his most recent fight. In May, a no-contest was ruled as WBO junior lightweight belt holder Emanuel Navarrete was cut by a Suarez punch that was incorrectly ruled a clash of heads. The call proved costly, as Suarez, 37, was not awarded the belt and Navarrete initially won the decision when it went to the judges’ scores.
Avila, then, won’t be the only fighter with something to prove when he next steps into the ring. But after all he has fought through just to be there, Avila can take heart in having the space and peace of mind to again pursue his career.
“I knew world-class boxing is where I belong,” Avila said. “I had to take care of my family first, and now I am back in the gym.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
