Jonathan Navarro hoping to lead family race to titles against veteran Clarence Booth

Junior welterweight Jonathan Navarro will end a near five-year hiatus from boxing, driven by the dream of becoming the first world titleholder in his family. His brother David is also a professional, as are his cousins Steven, who is signed with Top Rank, and Chantel, who turned pro this Friday.

Navarro faces veteran Clarence Booth on Wednesday as part of ProBox TV’s Wednesday Night Fights at the ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Navarro (17-0, 9 KOs) from East L.A. is an undefeated 27-year-old and his amateur pedigree runs deep, so deep that he is not sure how many national tournaments he has won, guessing it to be 18 or more. “It was just non-stop winning for three to four years in the amateurs,” he said. 

Previously signed with Golden Boy Promotions and trained by Robert Garcia, Navarro is now returning to his roots, training with amateur coach Sal Zavala. 

“The whole COVID thing happened, and everybody obviously stopped,” Navarro said. “I was getting ready for a fight with Pablo Cesar Cano with Golden Boy, which was supposed to be in March, back in 2021. I think it was like three weeks before the fight, I injured myself, my bicep tendon tore.”

Shortly before the fight was set to happen, Cano withdrew. Navarro continued to train but knew something was wrong.

“The pain was just too unbearable,” Navarro said. “I couldn’t take it. I went to a hospital and found out that my bicep was torn.”

The injury caused a significant setback. Now, in his return to the ring, he faces 36-year-old Florida veteran Clarence Booth (21-10, 13 KOs) who, despite entering on a six-fight losing streak, has been fiercely competitive in most of his recent bouts.

“I needed a little change in my style,” Navarro said. “I’m just really ready to show everybody what I’ve been learning and improving on.”

Navarro also aims to be the first Navarro to win a world title. His family has had many fighters, most notably junior bantamweight Jose Navarro, who fought for a title on three different occasions but was never successful. Navarro hopes to start a trend of his family members holding titles.

“We’re born for this sport. Since the moment you’re in diapers, we are being shown how to throw a one-two,” Navarro explained. “Even with my daughter. I have two, and already my three-year-old, at the age of one, she already knows how to throw a one-two at you. She already knows how to walk forward. She already has foot movement. It is just something that is born in us.”

Lucas Ketelle is a proud member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and author of “Inside The Ropes of Boxing” (available on Amazon). Contact him on X @LukieBoxing.