Top Rank Returns to El Paso: A Felicitous Coupling

When you get to be 86 years old and have been in the same line of work for most of your adult life, things have a way of coming full circle. That’s the case with indefatigable Top Rank CEO Bob Arum who is back in El Paso this weekend, a city that has been good to him. Arum’s company is the lead promoter for Saturday’s WBC 130-pound title fight between Miguel Berchelt and Miguel “Mickey” Roman. Berchelt, the incumbent, is making his fourth title defense. The fight will be live streamed on ESPN+ starting at 9:30 pm ET.

Arum made his first foray to the overwhelmingly Hispanic border city in 1997. In the featured bout of his 7-fight card, 21-year-old phenom Erik Morales wrested the WBC world 122-pound title from Daniel Zaragoza with an 11^th round stoppage. Zaragoza, who was competing in his twenty-second world title fight, never fought again.

A third future Hall of Famer appeared on the undercard. Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather advanced to 10-0 with a second round stoppage of Louie Leija. It was Mayweather’s first scheduled 10-rounder.

Arum hit the jackpot the next year when he brought Oscar De La Hoya to town. Although De La Hoya was a prohibitive favorite over Patrick Charpentier, an obscure Frenchman, their bout drew 45,308 to the Sun Bowl, the largest turnout for a boxing show at a U.S. sporting venue since Ali-Spinks II at the Louisiana SuperDome 20 years earlier.

De La Hoya dismissed his hopelessly overmatched opponent in the third round, but of greater significance the promotion clearly demonstrated that the “Golden Boy,” who was making the fourth defense of his WBC welterweight belt, had transcended boxing to take his place among America’s most exalted athletes. When Oscar arrived in El Paso, landing at a private airfield, an estimated 800 fans were there to greet him. They were mostly, noted LA Daily News reporter Michael Rosenthal, “smitten young ladies…pressed up against a chainlink fence that saved the dashing boxer from being mauled.”

Arum and his Top Rank crew has been back in El Paso several times in the ensuing years, most recently in February of last year with a card that produced one of the biggest upsets of 2017 when Jonathan Maicelo, an unheralded Peruvian, dropped Jose Felix Jr. five times en route to winning a lopsided decision. The main event of that show from the standpoint of the fight posters was actually a woman’s fight, a match between Jennifer Han and Argentina’s Lizbeth Crespo. The Korean-American Han, whose father runs a Martial Arts academy, is not only the most popular boxer in the city, but is generally recognized as the first fighter born and bred in El Paso to win a world title. Han, who holds a degree in kinesiology from UTEP, owns the IBF version of the female division of the world featherweight title.

It’s odd that El Paso, currently home to about 700,000 people, has never produced a men’s world boxing champion. “Boxing is in the soul of the city,” says longtime Texas sports facilitator Lester Bedford who has worked with Top Rank and other boxing promoters. But cross the river into gritty Juarez, El Paso’s twin city, roughly three times as large, and you will find a richer boxing subculture. It was in this city that the venerated Quirino Garcia won 12-round decisions over former world champions Meldrick Taylor and Simon Brown in bouts spaced three months apart – the same Quirino Garcia who lost his first 18 pro fights!

Mickey Roman, a former two-time world title challenger, hails from Juarez and will have the crowd in his corner Saturday night. For inspiration he can look to his former Juarez intra-city rival Cesar Soto who won a world title in his third try, unseating the Filipino Luisito Espinosa to win the WBC world featherweight title at El Paso in 1999.

As for the title at stake on Saturday, it’s important to both competitors but of little consequence to boxing fans. There are so many titles floating around today, that even hardcore fans would likely be stumped if asked to name the title that Berchelt owns. What matters to the fans is whether the fight will be entertaining, and by all indications it will be immensely entertaining.

The 26-year-old Berchelt (34-1, 30 KOs) and the 32-year-old Roman (60-12, 47 KOs) have both been in wars against fellow Mexicans that merited Fight of the Year consideration. Berchelt’s blood-soaked battle with Francisco Vargas in January of last year was a heated affair. “Vargas and Berchelt tore into each other from the opening bell,” wrote Nigel Collins. “The pace escalated from there.” Mickey Roman’s last fight with warhorse Orlando Salido was as good as advertised; a crowd-pleasing slugfest.

Fasten your seatbelt.

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