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| Marcy Garriott is an Austin, Texas based independent filmmaker, and the creator of the documentary “Split Decision.” The film chronicles the life and legal struggles of former WBC champion and current super featherweight contender Jesus “El Matador” Chavez. If one does not know Jesus’ story, then seeing Chavez be victorious over Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez, and |  |
after learning that his wife graciously and bravely served our country (U.S.) in a one year tour of Iraq, and is set to return to Iraq this Friday having been granted leave for Jesus’ fight, we may have easily been led to believe that “El Matador” has always lived a charmed existence. That would be farthest from the truth as, after a criminal conviction as a youth, which resulted in a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, Jesus was released from custody, and he continued to pursue his dream of becoming a world champion. To his dismay, the Immigration powers that be rendered his resident alien status revoked due to his criminal conviction, declared him illegally in the America, and subsequently deported him to Mexico. Having become a popular figure in Austin, Texas, many of Jesus’ stable-mates at the Lord’s Boxing Gym, along with her brother-in-law, contacted Marcy Garriott to see if she would take up the cause of bringing “El Matador” back to where he belonged. “I was very intrigued by his (Chavez) situation and was very impressed with the fact that this guy just would not give up. He has more resiliency than anyone I know. The drive of his personality is just amazing. It was obviously a huge setback that he had to go to prison for three-and-a-half years. The fact that he bounced back from that, and then came back after his deportation to Mexico is inspiring. He had to go live with his grandparents in Mexico, separated from the rest of his family, could not really speak Spanish very well, and was not able to box in the United States, which would have discouraged most people, but he kept working hard,” said Marcy Garriott to this writer from her home base in Austin, Texas.
After being deported to Mexico, which is where “El Matador” was born, Jesus Chavez encountered a completely new set of unexpected problems. The filming of “Split Decision” began after his deportation and Garriott, who was on location in Mexico for the process, recalls the events every well. “By the time he was deported, Jesus had been boxing very successfully in Austin, and had quickly climbed up the boxing ladder. There were several people in the sport already saying that he (Chavez) was a future world champion, but then he could not box in the United States anymore. Jesus was not accepted as a Mexican because of his accent. Mexico is a country that is very proud of their boxer, and they recognize a true Mexican boxer as one that is born in their country. Jesus was viewed as a “Pocho” (Mexican slang for Yankee), and was not respected as a boxer and he had to prove himself to the people. Until Jesus won the Mexican national championship, against Julio Alvarez, then one of the announcers told him that he now was a true Mexican fighter. Jesus has said that for a long time, both of his countries rejected him. He still continued to fight back and eventually won the respect of both the United States and Mexico.”
Jesus applied for a pardon and requested to return to the United States but was initially rejected. Marcy feels that her documentary had an impact on him eventually being allowed to return to the United States legally. “Jesus was rejected for a pardon and could not seem to get back to this country. After the documentary was released, we were able to find a much better immigration lawyer (Barbara Hines), who got involved after seeing his story. The documentary itself was part of the legal packet that went to the I.N.S. (Immigration and Naturalization Service) which showed that Jesus was rehabilitated and belonged in the United States with his family. His lawyer was able to use that along with some reasonable arguments regarding the circumstances of his deportation to get Jesus permission to return legally to the United States, which he did and eventually became a world champion. Because of all of this, Jesus now feels that he belongs to both countries and is very proud of that. I just think it’s amazing because if you wrote this as a fictional story, you would almost think it’s not credible (laughing). It’s nice that in real life things like this do happen because there are people like him who deserve it. It’s good that it’s true otherwise people wouldn’t believe it (laughing).”
Now, “El Matador” seems to have what is commonly referred to as the “American Dream” as he is married to a lovely women, has very close family and friends in his adopted home of Austin, Texas and is waiting to get his second opportunity at a world championship. Can you believe that not long ago, Chavez did a three-and-a-half-year stint in the slammer, and was not even allowed to live, or box in the United States? Marcy is right because I still find that story hard to believe. The great thing about it fight fans is that it is all on film, and that film is called “Split Decision.” It must be poetic justice because Chavez won his last, and the most important fight of his professional career, by split decision.
Writer’s Note: For those of you interested, you can purchase a copy of “Split Decision” here….
or here…
If you would like to learn more about Marcy Garriott’s work, you can check out her website at www.sonrisa.com
Sergio Martinez can be reached at srg_mrtnz@yahoo.com
