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West Jordan • At nighttime, when he relaxes at home with his wife, Yesenia, and their five children between the ages of 9 and 1 month, professional boxer and full-time Pepsi-Cola salesman Jose "Pepito" Haro still feels the throbbing in both feet.
After a day that begins at 4 a.m. and includes four to five miles of running, and a couple more hours of training, it is a regular and painful reminder of what happened to the 30-year-old fighter about 20 months ago.
But it hasn't slowed Haro's comeback, a remarkable return to boxing that will continue Saturday night when Haro makes his national television debut against seasoned featherweight Daniel Franco on CBS Sports Network's weekly "Fight Night: Knockout Night Boxing" show.
The long-awaited bout between Haro, who has a 13-1-1 record as a professional, and Franco (16-1-3), from Riverside, Calif., will be the main event at the WinnaVegas Casino Resort in Sloan, Iowa.
"Jose is not an underdog," said Whitfield Haydon, a boxing promoter. "I really expect him to win this fight."
Says Haro, who began boxing when he was 12 and logged hundreds of amateur bouts growing up in Magna and the state of Washington: "They are sending me out there to get beat, but obviously I have other plans."
That's amazing, because less than two years ago some medical experts doubted if Haro could walk normally again after a senseless act of violence committed by a complete stranger at a Walmart in West Valley City a few weeks before the boxer was scheduled to sign a lucrative contract with a promoter.
On Oct. 14, 2015, Haro was fired at five or six times by a man he did not know — later identified as Cole Ronald Shields — at the store's parking lot after the two had briefly exchanged words near the checkout register. According to charging documents in the case, Shields said he confronted Haro about looking at his girlfriend.
Two of the bullets struck Haro, one in each foot, as he attempted to flee a fistfight upon noticing that Shields, 31, had a gun.
Both bullets entered the bottoms of Haro's feet an inch or so from his middle toe, but the one that hit his left foot angled into bones and eventually required a graft from his shin bone to repair surgically. Haro spent the next four months in a wheelchair recovering from the incident, and did not return to the ring until April 23, 2016.
He still has bullet fragments in his left foot, and the pain has never left, but he walks and runs now as if nothing happened.
"One doctor said he might not ever walk again," said his brother and trainer, 26-year-old Eric Haro. "Another doctor said he would limp the rest of his life. But he has surpassed everyone's expectations except his own."
Shields pleaded guilty in 2016 to three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm and was sentenced to 9-15 years in the Utah State Prison and ordered to pay $11,819 in medical restitution.
Haro's ordeal was far from over, however.
He was tabbed to fight in Washington, D.C., last fall, but suffered a fracture on the outside of his left foot while training. A screw was inserted into his foot about an inch from the bullet wound and his return was delayed again.
"Honestly, I just try to keep a positive mindset and keep my spirits up no matter the setback. I try not to let depression creep in," Haro said. "Mostly, I just couldn't let my kids see that anything can get me down."
Haro has trained for two months for this particular fight, working out at the garage in his home most of the time, then sparring with fellow pros Ignacio Chairez, Aaron Olmedo and Jonathan Montelongo at the Reyes Boxing Gym in West Valley City. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds, a mild concern for Haro's camp because his longest pro fight was eight rounds, and that was more than two years ago, before the shooting. The winner will hold the USBA featherweight belt (126 pounds) and be eligible to fight for the WBC or WBA title in that weight division later in the year.
The brothers left for Iowa on Thursday; Yesenia, the couple's children and most of Haro's nine siblings will gather in Utah to watch their hero duke it out on live television.
"He's just a go-getter," Yesenia Haro said of her husband. "He's the type of person that, if you tell him he can't do something, he will just to prove everybody wrong."
Twitter: @drewjay —
Haro's national television debut
When • Saturday, 8 p.m. MDT on CBS Sports Network's "Knockout Night Boxing"
Channel • 221 on DirecTV, 158 on Dish Network, 753 on Comcast
Opponent • Daniel Franco, Riverside, Calif.
Where • WinnaVegas Casino Resort, Sloan, Iowa
At Stake • USBA featherweight title, chance to fight for WBC, WBA featherweight titles