By Norm Frauenheim –
PHOENIX — It’s impossible to separate Michael Carbajal from his neighborhood.
His identity is its identity and has been ever since he got robbed of a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and went on to a Hall of Fame career as a junior-flyweight as ferocious as the streets he grew up on.
His name and those streets just east of the Phoenix skyline are almost synonymous
Today, one of those streets bears his name.
It was unveiled Tuesday in a ceremony that attracted a few hundred neighbors and fans, who lined Fillmore Street between 9th and 10th streets They watched, listened and applauded throughout a ceremony on a hot afternoon that saw temperatures climb toward triple digits.
The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously on March 19 to add Carbajal’s name to a street corner just a couple of houses down from the house where Carbajal grew up and first began to train in a backyard ring that included corroding hoses for ropes. Now 56, Carbajal still lives in that house.
Throughout years marked by personal turmoil, he vowed he would never leave. He stuck around, doing it his way
Or like the sign says: Michael Carbajal Way.
“Thanks to my neighborhood and everybody here,” Carbajal said. “Good or bad, you’ve always been there for me. When I was fighting and you were there, I could step into the ring and know that I wasn’t going to get my ass whipped on that day.”
