Emanuel Navarrete is back and so is the city where he delivered a powerful statement, reminding a balkanized business that both fighter and place aren’t going away.
For a while, it looked as if they might. There were signs that Navarrete was fading in the ring and Phoenix was vanishing as a destination.
In the immediate aftermath of Navarrete’s dramatic stoppage of a favored Eduardo Nunez at Desert Diamond Arena in suburban Glendale, however, both forecasts are double-down foolish.
February 28 was a night when Navarrete and the Phoenix logo could have been one and the same. That mythic bird from the ashes is still aloft, perhaps higher than ever.
Here are just a couple of parallel tracks in a story tied together by fighter and fans:
1. The 31-year-old Navarrete, a three-division champion and unified junior-lightweight champ, has never looked better, perhaps good enough to get some serious pound-for-pound consideration for the first time.
2. The Phoenix market, dormant for more than a year, has never looked and sounded more viable. A Desert Diamond crowd of nearly 12,000, according to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, roared its approval throughout most of the eight-fight card.
“A special night, but this is the right place for it,’’ said Hearn, who before first bell predicted the card would be “the greatest advertisement for boxing.’’
Boxing’s only advertisement for at least a year has been a contentious collection of threats, lawsuits and slurs. From day-to-day, it’s hard to know who’s insulting whom. Trash-talk has always been part of the fight game’s language, but it’s easier to understand if it comes from the fighters. Punches are a better sales pitch than politics, but politicos have been getting most of the headlines.
Forgotten amid it all are casual fans who don’t know or care about the WBC-IBF-WBA-WBA versus Zuffa-Sela-TKO-RING. They’re casual, perhaps, because they’ve heard it all before. Acronyms moving in, acronyms moving out.
“Above all, I’m a fan,’’ said Roberto Vargas, whose intense interest in the sport led him to creating Arizona’s Iron Boy Promotions and now management of promising Phoenix junior-featherweight Jordan Martinez. “It’s really tough to figure out what’s going on in boxing right now. I’m a promoter, yeah. I’m a manager, yeah.
“But I’m like most fans here and I think everywhere else.
“I’m just going to wait and see, see what happens. But one thing isn’t going to change. Not ever. We just want to see good fights.’’
At Desert Diamond, those fights were back, including Martinez in an entertaining draw with Arturo Cardenas in the DAZN opener to the Navarrete-Nunez featured card.
It was the first major card in Phoenix in nearly 15 months. The Maricopa County market went dark after Navarrete stopped fellow Mexican Oscar Valdez on Dec. 7, 2024 in a Top Rank-promoted rematch in front of 8,438 at the NBA Suns’ arena in downtown Phoenix.
Navarrete-Valdez II had been preceded by a long string of successful cards, both at Desert Diamond and the Suns’ home.
There was Navarrete’s unanimous decision over Valdez in front of 10,246 at Desert Diamond in their August 2023 meeting.
There was the Super-Fly classic - Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’ stoppage of accomplished Juan Francisco Estrada in front of more than 9,000 at the Suns’ arena in June 2024.
There was Estrada’s trilogy victory over legend Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in December 2022 at Desert Diamond, also in front of more than 9,000.
There was Jaime Munguia’s super-middleweight stoppage of veteran John Ryder in front of 10,836 in January 2024 at the Suns arena in a Golden Boy-promoted fight.
The fans kept coming. But the cards stopped until Navarrete returned. What happened?
The best guess is that Saudi money turned off the Phoenix lights and kept them off for a long, dark stretch. Instead, fights that might have been in downtown Phoenix or nearby Glendale went to Riyadh, including perhaps a hometown return for David Benavidez, who instead defended his light-heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia.
Another, often mentioned by Phoenix fans, was Bam Rodriguez in his knockout of Fernando Martinez for another piece of the unified Super Fly title.
Instead, Bam’s victory got buried, a significant unified title fight lost and mostly forgotten on a card headlined by Benavidez' victory over Anthony Yarde in November.
Benavidez made big money. Bam made big money.
“But sometimes you’ve got to give these guys their flowers,’’ said Hearn, who has long said that the Phoenix crowd is populated by “educated” fans.
By educated, Hearn isn't talking about degrees. It's simple: Phoenix fans know what they’re watching, which isn’t always evident in the bouts from Riyadh. Watch the livestream and you see fans yawning, fans napping and presumably leaving. Empty seats account for a livestream empty of enthusiasm.
For Hearn, that has led to a renewed effort at bringing fans back into the arena.
On the last day in January, he promoted Shakur Stevenson’s masterful decision in New York over Teofimo Lopez in front of a Madison Square Garden record, 21,324.
On the last day in February, Hearn promoted Navarrete coming back to what the Mexican called his second home at Desert Diamond in front of a crowd that sounded a lot bigger than the nearly 12,000 announced by Matchroom.
“We’ll definitely be back once, if not more,’’ said Hearn, who signed a new DAZN deal for 30 shows a year.
More fans will follow, Hearn promised.
“Promoters got lazy,’’ he said. “There was so much money in the TV rights that the gate revenue became less important in terms of a piece of the pie.
“They gave up, went to smaller venues that cost less.
“They went: ‘Where can we stage an event as cheaply as possible?’ Rather than: ‘How can we get the biggest crowd, create the best atmosphere that raises energy and gives everybody a night.’
“I hope everybody who leaves tonight goes: ‘I had a great time. I got value for my money. I’m coming back.’
“That, for us, is key.’’
A key, maybe, to a divided game’s survival.
