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 Jose Navarro: Just Rub the Lamp and Make a Wish
By Diego Morilla (January 14, 2003)
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A good student who graduated with a 3.8 grade point average at Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School, Jose Navarro now hopes to graduate from his current prospect status to that of a legitimate 115-pound contender with his Thursday challenge to Carlos Madrigal (20-3, 15 KOs) in the very first "Boxeo de Oro" card in L.A. promoted by the Golden Boy himself.
As an expert in making other people’s dreams come true, it is quite conceivable that he will be perfectly capable of realizing a wish of his own this time around.
"He is only 20 years old", said DiBella about his young left-handed Californian charge at the beginning of 2002, "and he is still growing. I’d be happy to see him get to 13-0 by the end of this year".
Consider it done, boss. You wish it, Jose delivers it.
Being acquainted with challenges and obstacles since his earliest childhood, Navarro wasted little time after his Olympic dream ended in Sidney.
Navarro had headed off to Australia, as a member of the 2000 United States Olympic boxing team with dreams of following the path of distinguished East L.A. compadres such as De La Hoya (1992) and Paul Gonzalez (1984).
A product of tough South-Central Los Angeles, Jose was inspired by his older brother Carlos, who had missed his Olympic chance by dropping a decision to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in the Olympic trials in 1996.
But after dropping a 23-12 quarter-finals match to Jerome Thomas of France in the 2000 Games, professional boxing was the next logical step for him, as he would follow brothers Carlos and Ignacio into the paid ranks under the approval of his father, Carlos Navarro Sr., who used to take all of them to the gym during their childhood, secretly wishing to see them all wrapped up in shinny belts one day.
Consider it done, daddy. The path to championship glory is under our feet already.
Born into a boxing family and being one of 12 children growing up in a house that had only two bedrooms and one bathroom didn’t prevent him from becoming a good student in Los Angeles with a near perfect GPA. After that, he probably figured that starting a pro career without an Olympic medal around his neck wouldn’t probably be that much of a challenge after all.
And so, after 130 amateur fights, and with the help of Oscar De La Hoya and Lou DiBella to guide him (De La Hoya was Navarro’s manager, while DiBella acts as his advisor and matchmaker) Jose turned pro in January of 2001, winning a four-round unanimous decision victory over Kenny Berrios.
After starting his career with a flawless 7-0 in 2001, Jose Navarro started 2002 improving to 8-0 with 3 KO thanks to a victory against Texan Eliseo Vela (6-6-1, 2 KO). The young U.S. Olympian pulverized Vela throughout the entire bout, showing an incredible speed. Navarro placed his hooks to the head and body with much precision, and also connected some serious straight lefts to the body. A cut in Vela’s right eye, opened in the third round, made him quit on his stool at the beginning of the fifth.
He then moved another notch in the ranks, passing his first eight-round test by taking a decision over Luis De La Rosa. All three judges favored Navarro 80-71 in this clash that took place in Tallahassee, Florida.
Navarro simply outboxed De La Rosa (3-4-1) throughout the proceedings. Jose didn't escape unmarked, though. He suffered a bruise under his left eye when both fighters clashed heads in the third round.
In April 11th, Navarro continued to impress when he scored a fourth-round knockout win against Adrian Cuevas at the Centennial Gardens in Bakersfield, California. Navarro had now won all of his 10 professional fights, four by stoppage. After a relatively slow start, Navarro found his range, stepped up the pace and knocked Cuevas out with a right hook after two minutes of the fourth round.
In a Honolulu card in May, Jose improved to 11-0 with four knock-outs with an 8th round unanimous decision victory over Julio Cesar Oyuela (7-5-2, 2 KO). Navarro looked sharp and boxed well, scoring a knockdown in the 6th round.
On the Tua vs Moorer card in August, Navarro (12-0, 5 KO's) looked spectacular in scoring a second round knock-out of Puerto Rico’s Javier "Perrito" Cintrón (10-7, 8 KO).
Fighting in the Savarese vs. Whitherspoon undercard at the Table Mountain Casino in Friant, California, Jose Navarro finally made DiBella’s wish come true as he improved to 13-0 (4 KO) after a six rounds decision over Jorge Lopez.
And to cap a great year, the 2000 Olympian moved even further up to 14-0 (6 KO's) with a fifth round knock out of Benito Zepeda (5-2-2, 4 KO's) in what was originally scheduled as an eight rounder at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello, California.
According to trainer Frank Rivera, he is not a knockout artist but he is able to use both hands effectively, aside from his main asset: his speed. Navarro hopes to use it well versus his respectable opponent Thursday night.
E-Mail Diego Morilla at d_morilla@hotmail.com
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