Margarito Suspended – the Cotto Question Unresolved
posted by Large
(Be sure to check out Baggiesboy’s piece on tomorrow’s U.S./Mexico soccer match below this post. I had to bury him due to the breaking Margo situation, but as always he brought his A-game to the pitch. -L)
As I’m sure you guys have read or heard by now, Tony Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo both had their licenses revoked by the California State Athletic Commission after a hearing today into the handwraps controversy that emerged prior to Margarito’s fight with Shane Mosley on January 24th.
Our crack commenter Howard in NYC, who I gather doubles in his non-Masian existence as a lawyer, pointed out last week that because Mosley’s trainer, Nazim Richardson, had removed the suspiciously hard pads from Margarito’s dressing room and taken them to Mosley’s, there would be chain of custody issues raised by Margarito’s defense team, and indeed there were.
But apparently, nobody was biting on that line. Margarito’s trainer, Capetillo, also tried to take the entire blame upon himself, saying that he himself was responsible for the hard pieces being inside the fighter’s wraps and that Margarito had no knowledge of the matter whatsoever. As for what he’d done, Capetillo said it was “an innocent mistake.”
Nobody swallowed that, either. A year of license suspensions was voted by the Commission for both men to the tune of 7 yeas and zero nays. Down goes Margo.
Perhaps the most stunning revelation of the day, however, had no influence on the final judgment, though it is certain to lead to mass speculation and perhaps further punitive action against Margarito and Capetillo. During the proceedings, a deputy attorney general for the prosecution, Karen Chapelle, tried to introduce a claim that Margarito had worn similar pads under his gloves for the Cotto fight last July. The Commission refused to hear it, saying that it was irrelevant to the question of what happened at the Staples Center prior to the bout with Mosley.
Which makes sense, because this is, after all, the California State Athletic Commission ruling on a matter that occurred in its jurisdiction. The Cotto fight did not occur in its jurisdiction, so it has no bearing on this particular matter.
But it does have bearing on the question at large, enormous bearing. I imagine that many of you out there will think that a year suspension is a little light (the suspension will be upheld by all fifty states, though fighting in Mexico likely will be an option for Margarito), but in that Margarito never actually hit Mosley with those loaded wraps, and in that this whole affair is such a black eye both for the Commission and for the sport, I admit that I was worried that he would get off even easier than a year. Given the stickiness of the situation and its high profile in the boxing world, a year struck me as the harshest the ruling was going to be.
But what about this Cotto business today? In her attempt to open up the matter of the Cotto fight, did Karen Chapelle have concrete evidence in her pocket that Margarito’s wraps were loaded when he faced Cotto in the ring last July? Is it concrete enough for the Nevada State Athletic Commission to hold a hearing on the matter?
Because if it is, that is a different kettle of fish altogether. As we all vividly recall, Margarito did indeed hit Cotto that night, hit him about three hundred times and busted him up but good. If his wraps were loaded while he was doing it and someone is holding proof, the shit is going to hit the fan f’real. Based on today’s events alone, I have to imagine that Cotto’s people will immediately demand a hearing on the issue by the Nevada Commission. And if Margarito and Capetillo are found guilty at that hearing, a lifetime ban for both men certainly would be on the table. I hate to have to write this – it makes me a little sick to my stomach, to be honest – but at that point, jail time would be on the table.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Well Margarito had to go down hard and I personally don’t think he went down hard enough. People either look at boxing with curiosity or have decided it is beyond consideration. The paradox is boxing can be artful and replusive. What I like about it is that more respect is given to boxers, than say the MMA. Everything is more mannered, standing 8 counts are given to hurt fighters so they have a chance to get back in the fight. If someone is knocked down he is given a chance to get his senses back, not jumped on and elbowed like in MMA. Boxing highlights mans innate courage and nobility, but only if the fight is fair. When the fights are fair, boxing will survive not just because of its machismo mythology but also because of an irrational, purely visceral response that fans like us share. Margarito’s actions place boxing in a worthless and contemptible place. He needs more than a year on the bench.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
thanks for the shout, large. nope, not a lawyer. all my experience with the system is from the other side. but i have a little experience with handling blood and urine specimens for drug tests.
i know nothing of csac procedures, but i thought the presence of a deputy attorney general, acting as a prosecutor, was notable. seems odd, but for all i know this is standard for cali. i wonder if this presages a criminal action, especially if she has evidence of a prior crime, in the cotto fight.
i was not ready to trash margs until the facts were in. well, let the trashing commence. he provided no reasonable defense or explanation; capitello calling it an innocent mistake is a contemptuous joke. as for the fighter being uninvolved? bs. your hands. your responsibility. your conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, too.
questioning the validity of marg’s victories over cotto, cintron and clottey is not mere speculation anymore. more like a fair assumption that the mosley fight is not the first time marg’s and team tried to pull some shit. just the first time they got caught.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
oops, a quick google search on her name shows ms. chappelle acting in a similar role for the csas for a steroids suspension hearing of a mma fighter. so perhaps the involvement of a states’ attorney is sop.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
the best part of this to me is bob arums reaction on espn…what a piece of shit…really…this guy is so pissed that he cant make margs/cotto and have the winner be from his stable…hes claiming top rank wont do business in the state until this situation is resolved the way he sees fit
sorry bob…just because margs’ trainer says margs didnt know about it doesnt absolve him from punishment(only in the world of bob arum could this be a legit excuse to not hand down a sentence)…”oh well capitello said antonio knew nothing about it so why should he be suspended”…gimme a break bob…go enjoy the rest of your life…now yer gonna get a margs a fight in mexico and put it on ppv? have fun
by the way…can i call margs a fraud now?
February 11th, 2009 at 12:25 am
I commend the California State commission for their efforts in revoking the license, but am still in grief. Margarito has little class for what he has done, and I am quite sure he will continue to display that classless vigor in Mexico. Bob Arum should be ashamed of himself for actually thinking of pursuing not only further hearings, but also staging an event in Tijuana.
I feel horrible for Cotto. I picked up the Ring’s almanac and was reading through it today and despised the coverage Margarito got (no fault of the Ring). Now that I look back at Margarito, it is really difficult to say how good he truly was. Sure he beat Kermit Cintron, but he was taken to the cleaners in the first 8 or so rounds by Williams and handedly taken care of by Cotto in the same measure of time. I give him credit for having a solid chin, but you really have to wonder how much the plaster played a role in his climb up the welterweight ladder
Future Prediction: Mosley vs Cotto —> Cotto by UD —-> which leads to Cotto vs Mayweather—> Mayweather, UD—-> No more big paydays for Margarito against elite competition
February 11th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Just sad stuff. Margo was the feel-good-story for me. Just a tremendous worker and hard fighter… makes me sad. And I’m with Brad, one year is not enough. Loading your gloves is no joke, and one year is a joke, specially when you think, that after his two last wars he would sit out atleast half a year anyway.
But isn’t life strange? A month ago Margo was the new JCC, looking up to atleast two Multi-Million-Dollar-fights and being manloved by about 200 Million Mexicans… and now he is nothing more than a dirty cheater.
In boxing, things can change in a second… not only in the ring this is true.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:40 am
If his gloves were loaded against Cotto, he should serve jail time. Would that be assault with a deadly weapon? Attempted murder? I remember reading (or more likely seeing in movie) that fighters or martial arts experts can be charged with assault with a deadly weapon for streetfights because of their training. Howard would that be the case here?
Also can Mosley or Cotto file a civil suit against Margs for punitive damages, pain and suffering, etc.? I don’t see why not?
February 11th, 2009 at 9:59 am
The Cotto revelation took this thing from “sad” to “gut wrenching” for me. Regardless of what comes out of any Nevada Commission hearing, that fight will be tainted in my mind. And I suppose that it already was; can any of Margo’s wins be untainted given the events of yesterday? But this solidifies it. And, from a fan’s perspective, we are going to be cheated out of a dynamite rematch of a FOY with potential to have some serious crossover appeal, which would have been good for the sport. We now get the opposite.
Were they seriously thinking they could throw Capetillo under the bus to save Margo and preserve the opportunity for big fights down the road?
Do we rethink Miguel Cotto now?
As a wise man said, answers are the easy part…questions raise the doubt.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:05 am
If you remember Luis Resto and Panama Lewis were convicted of assault and conspiracy and served jail time after they admitted to removing padding from Resto’s gloves and soaking his wraps in a “plaster of paris” like substance so they hardened in the 1983 fight with Billy Collins. It would seem like a conspiracy charge is a slam dunk in the Mosley incident. They tried to commit a crime. However, I’m not sure how they prove anything happen in July against Cotto. I believe they certainly could have, but I’m not sure how they prove it. It’s just bad. We don’t need it. We don’t need Margarito. They knew how bad the Resto-Collins incident was and they knew of the potential punishment…now punish them.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:17 am
[...] much more on the Margarito suspension check out the coverage over at No Mas and The Queensberry [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 10:18 am
El Mero, I certainly rethink Cotto. It’s funny that Margarito went from hitting like Tommy Hearns against Cintron and Cotto, to hitting like Sweet Pea Whitaker against Mosley….I like the way Cotto’s team is taking him back slowly. I hope this latest news gives him confidence that maybe he didn’t “really” lose to Margarito at all.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:58 am
If Margarito did load his gloves in the Cotto fight, Cotto’s performance becomes even more impressive than it was to begin with.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:05 am
“Were they seriously thinking they could throw Capetillo under the bus to save Margo and preserve the opportunity for big fights down the road?”
well im sure they were thinking that was their best shot…lol…its sad really…i can only imagine arums reaction if mosley was his fighter…go throw him on one of yer “latin fury” cards down in mexico….”the return of margicheato”….then maybe you can match him up with JCC jr….lolol
February 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Ricky…before the Mosley fight, we were discussing Margo in a big money rematch with Cotto, in some sort of superfight with Manny. Maybe falling from there to a Latin Fury card with JCC Jr. is punishment enough.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am
the sad thing is…hell go fight a couple times down in mexico against some bums…and arum will still make this fight for 2010 at msg on the eve of the pr parade….and honestly…if this happens…i dunno if i cant trust that margs isnt gonna take one for the top rank team
February 11th, 2009 at 11:50 am
@I-Berg,
Long-time reader, first time commenter. I’m a lawyer though, so maybe this’ll help clear some of this stuff up.
Also, this is just general law, no research into NV specifics. But, if there is evidence that Margs loaded his gloves in the Cotto fight, he could be charged by the Nevada authorities with Battery (“unwarranted touching of another”) as loading gloves would be considered an unreasonable act in the ring and thus unwarranted. For attempted murder the prosecutor would need to show two things: (1) a substantial step toward completion of the crime (ie loading the gloves) and that Margarito’s mental state amounted to Malice. There’s four ways to show Malice: (1) Intent to kill (probably not in a boxing match); (2) Intent to inflict great bodily harm (always when a deadly weapon is involved, ie a gun, or a prize fighter’s fists (would need to check NV law on whether fists = deadly weapon there)) (3) “Implied Malice”, that Margarito acted with a “Depraved Heart” or an “abandoned and malignant heart” by engaging in grossly reckless behavior (if I were the prosecutor, this is where I’d focus my case) and (4) felony murder, when death occurs in the course of a violent felony (not applicable here, as thankfully, Cotto’s still around).
As far as a civil suit goes, the intentional torts like (assault and battery) would not be the best basis for a lawsuit because Mosely and Cotto “undertook the risk” of injury by engaging in a boxing match in the first place, and thus would be deemed to have “consented” to getting hurt. Under negligence a plaintiff has to prove four things: duty, breach, causation, damages. Since the wraps were removed before the most recent fight, Mosley wouldn’t have a case. Cotto would though. The NV rules would stipulate that Margs has a duty not to load his gloves. If there’s evidence he did, he breached that duty and Cotto could sue for his injuries and the punitive damages issue would be very interesting: i.e. calculation of lost earnings for the remainder of his career if he hadn’t lost the fight. Though that could be complicated by Nick’s observation that Cotto’s performance in the fight is even more impressive if Margorito’s gloves were in fact loaded.
Like I said, off the cuff and there’s room to argue on each point, but those are the basics. Also Howard was exactly right about the chain of evidence issues involved in the most recent fight. Those issues apply equally to the Cotto fight.
To me, that’s the biggest question to come out of this: what, if any, evidence is there that Margo’s gloves were loaded in the Cotto fight and how reliable is it?
As for the movie, I think you are thinking of Con Air. And Con Air doesn’t scream No Mas to me, except in an ironic way.
Peace,
M
February 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
thank goodness an attorney showed up in here.
i am not a lawyer.
(i am a physician. even worked a few fights in my time.)
February 11th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I’m just confused on what evidence there could possibly be left from the Cotto fight? It took place in July!!! Until Margarito got popped (in a different state) last month I never even heard a mention of something going on in the Cotto fight. I would assume the wraps are long gone ( or maybe that’s what he tried to reuse against Mosley LOL), so short of Margarito or Capetillo fessing up, which is unlikely, they didn’t even come clean when they got caught red-handed, I don’t how they could get pinched for the Cotto fight.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I agree Brad, that’s the heart of the whole legal issue now. But, I’m left wondering if there is some evidence, since it would be pretty poor form for a prosecutor to mention a prior act outside of CA (knowing the commission would dismiss it immediately) without any evidence.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Here’s my piece from today over at The Sporting Blog – basically reiterate what I wrote here with a jazzier headline:
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/17186/is_jail_time_next_for_antonio_margarito?
Howard, I quote Animal House – “pre-med, pre-law, what’s the difference?” I think in this forum of would-be professional gamblers your status as a doctor also makes you an authority as a lawyer.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
And yes, Mattmack (Matt or Mack, Mattmack? make up your mind already) that is my point as well. She wouldn’t have brought the issue up yesterday if she didn’t have something to back it up. No way a deputy attorney general for the state is idly speculating in that forum.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Large it is possible that the deputy attorney general (Chappelle) was floating speculation out there, knowing that nothing would come of it because it was in a different state, simply to rattle the cage of Margarito and his hot-shot, dickhead lawyer Daniel Petrocelli. Or maybe Karen Chappelle was so pissed off by Capetillo’s lame story about the pads just ending up in his gym bag by mistake and he wrapped these old bloody pads on the World Champion Antonio Margarito fists without realising it, that she decided to hit back with something she couldn’t prove but wouldn’t neccessarily need to…. It’s a tactic I would employ but I’m a true Nomasian…a gambler, not a lawyer.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Exactly right Large, you were on the money from the beginning.
Matt (mind made up)
February 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
this makes me feel real bad for cotto. after learning all this, i can’t imagine that margarito didn’t load the gloves for that fight. and cotto loses his flawless record at the hands of a cheat. what would it take for them to retroactively rule that a no decision? would it take absolute proof he loaded in that fight? because that evidence is long gone. same goes for kermit cintron… the way he was affected by the shots margarito was throwing in their rematch (i don’t remember the first fight) i bet he was loaded in that fight too. man… fuck margarito!
February 11th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
“answers are the easy part, questions raise the doubt”
Jimmy Buffett is a wise man.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
L.B.J once told aids to leak a story to the press about a political rival of his having domestic problems. When told that the story was not true L.B.J famously said “who cares, let the bastard deny it”…..it could be that Karen Chappelle is raising the question of Margarito’s gloves in Las Vegas for the Cotto match simply so the “bastard” has to deny it. She maybe a closet L.B.J fan…or Cotto fan.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Thanks Brad. You can be my injury lawyer anytime. Gotta say from “Implied Malice” to LBJ references, this is like the fistic Algonquin up in here. Good stuff.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
if it was in msg
S 120.05 Assault in the second degree.
A person is guilty of assault in the second degree when:
1. With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he
causes such injury to such person or to a third person; or
2. With intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes
such injury to such person or to a third person by means of a deadly
weapon or a dangerous instrument;
Assault in the second degree is a class D felony.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
@20
in that case, my advice to you all is to start drinking heavily. and you better listen to me; i’m pre-med.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I’m very intrigued about the possibility there is some real proof that bad stuff went down in the Cotto fight. Whether this is the first time he did it or not he’s a cheat which is the worst thing a person can be. I remember mom always teaching us not to be cheats even in our teen years saying, “Once a pig, always a pig.” a lesson I keep close to the heart to this day.
It is an unfortunate time in sports that every major sport has a story about a cheater right now, but there is always the feeling in sports that the next great story is coming soon.
There’s plenty of excellent comments on this site. I know I’ll keep checking back.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:35 am
There is and always will be cheating in sports, too much money involved. But there is a hell of a difference between Lance taking EPO, some Bulgarian weight-lifter taking steroids and Margo loading his gloves. You can’t emphasize that enough.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Not sure that I see that big a difference between Shane using EPO and Margo loading his gloves. I think there’s just a fundmaental difference between cheating in boxing and cheating in baseball or weightlifting or cycling. If EPO allowed Shane to be fresher, throw more punches, and inflict more damage throughout the course of a fight, the end result is the same. Somebody’s fragile brain took more blows or harder or blows than it otherwise would have. Any way you slice it, that’s closer to a criminal act to me than a violation of the rules of play.
Especially hearing more with A-Rod about steroids that don’t add bulk, I think we are only at the beginning of uncovering illegal substances in boxing, and illegal substance users should be treated just as harshly as Margarito.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I’m with you on this point I-Berg. Boxing is different from other sports in that they are really putting themselves at mortal risk. We’re seeing athletes in all sports exploring ways to gain an edge. Boxing is no different. Although I don’t believe taking steroids will make a bad boxer a good boxer it will, like in other sports, enhance performances…unfairly. Like blood-stained, pads in ones hand wraps “enhance” punching power. It’s time boxing stops closing it’s eyes to the problem. I remember when fighters from my youth got old they simply looked heavier and softer when they got older. The Ali of the late 70′s was flesher, less defined than Cassius Clay of the mid 60′s. Roberto Duran was defined in the late 70′s early 80′s but as he went up in weight class he didn’t get more muscular rather he simply looked thicker in the waist…today you see Roy Jones go from 175 to 195 and he’s more muscular…in a matter of months…in his 30′s…it’s time boxing take a serious look at the problem.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
the coverage of this mess has been great at the mas…and the insightful comments have been great too….
but…weve got the galaxxy warrior finally getting in the ring nearly a year after his triumph over juan diaz…weve got the consensus number 1 or 2 p4p fighter in the world announcing his retirement(i would love the opportunity to vent on this guy)…and we had an intriguing flyweight matchup last weekend…where the winner, a proverbial buzzsaw, is talking about maybe moving up to go after izzy vazquez…but cant get in the ring to avenge his only loss because his promoter is a piece of trash….hooks us up large
hoo
February 12th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I’ve just recently discovered this little oasis called No Mas. I’m old so I remember when my local newspapers actually covered boxing. In the old days of my city, Detroit, the Free Press and the Detroit News had writers that covered boxing weekly and sometimes daily. George Pucas wrote for the Free Press and Mike O’Hara and Joe Falls for the News. Today….nothing. I get all my boxing information from the internet. Which is cool but if when you want to actually discuss boxing you get these morons that post crap like “De La Hoya’s a fag” or “Mayweather’s a pussy”…it’s hard to take these kind of sites seriously..then I happened to discover this place. It has the right attitude, a sense of humor, and great information. On top of that you can discuss boxing with intelligent people. The only reason a place like this exists is because of people like I-Berg and Large and I’m grateful. Thanks guys.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
@I-Berg: I give you that, boxing is a different ball game and being spiced and able to fight a higher pace in later round is more severe than being able to run faster but there is still a difference to loading gloves: You don’t take EPO or steroids and become superman, most of the cheaters only use it in training (main reason why no one in boxing gets caught, aint no training controls in this sport).
Loading your gloves makes every punch much harder – hell give Pauli Malinaggi loaded gloves and he might knock Cotto… well maybe not.
February 12th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
One of the reasons why boxing has become more of a niche sport in todays sporting landscape is because fewer and fewer people can really see the beauty and skill that some boxers display while beating the crap out of their opponents. The subtleties that exist between top flight boxers and their sparring partners are tougher to discern than say, someone admiring a 500 foor HR or a 40 yard TD pass.
Because boxing as a sport to appreciate has a higher learning curve, these issues (loaded gloves, EPO) can hurt boxing far more than other sports. If people can no longer trust their eyes (Is he really that fast? Is he really that hard a puncher?) What do we have left? Why will people take the time to watch bouts, learn about the sport and keep it going? If Margarito ever does re-apply for a license, if it is granted, then boxing will be effectively saying, we caught you red handed but the best we could do was ban you for a year.
A year form now, if Margs boxes again in the US, I see more desparate boxers, without the physical skills to become champions, loading their gloves as a last ditch effort to make the big time. If they get caught, their career was over anyways. If they don’t, they made something out of nothing. Margarito is a sick dog and deserves to be put down (in a career-sense only, of course).
February 12th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Just to play Devil’s Advocate in the illegal substance in the body v. illegal substances in the gloves debate. I’m not saying performance enhancing drugs are right or moral, but the advantage is a shade more than negligible when compared to the advantage gained by putting concrete in your gloves. a cheater is a cheater, but you put your opponent in much more danger when you load your gloves than you do when you give yourself a boost in training. While I agree steroids etc. make you stronger therefore giving you the advantage of throwing more better punches (more and better), but I remember Large saying Cotto was wrecked after the Margs fight to a point that Large felt if he touched him he would crumble (not an exact qupte, but along those lines). If it is founded that Margs loaded his gloves everyone will know Cotto left everything in the ring and more was taken from him than was truly deserved.
Anybody think the evidence the assistant attorney general wanted to introduce had anything to do with the fact that the pads were “bloodstained”? Maybe he wore those same wraps before and a DNA test is gonna show Cotto’s blood? Any other conspiracy theorists?
February 12th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Whether or not any proof comes out about Margarito using the loaded wraps against Cotto, I am 99% certain he did. It just wouldn’t be logical for him to lay such an ass-whupping on Cotto legitimately, AND THEN decide its time to start cheating. I don’t know exactly when he started with this plaster shit, but I know it was before the Cotto fight. Anything else is illogical.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I’m definitely with you on logic, but nothing is 100% without evidence or a confession. Confession isn’t comin’ so we need some evidence.
February 13th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Evidence probably isn’t coming either, given that the fight was so long ago. Unless someone has been sitting on something for all this time. In which case, that someone has the patience of a monk.
February 13th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
What’s more likely? Someone who has physical evidence, or someone who is willing to testify to the fact that he knew for certain Marg’s gloves were loaded vs. Cotto? I’d say the latter and I wonder how many in Marg’s camp knew what was happening and how many can be “turned.” Its like a mob-thriller, isn’t it?
February 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
It seems to me that there’s a couple of questions here:
Why in the world would a California ADA have evidence from a Las Vegas fight? Presumably, she had about a week to prepare for the hearing, and if she was able to get someone to admit to something within a week (I can’t see how she would have leverage if anyone didn’t want to talk), why wouldn’t that person have said something already? And if there was physical evidence, why is someone willing to give it up (and how in the world would she find that person) to the ADA and not make it public? This makes no sense to me…if you know something of this magnitude, you’re either protecting Margarito or letting him fry.
My suspicion is that the ADA sought to influence the hearing in the same manner she influenced some of the fellow readers here who are “99% sure” Margarito had loaded gloves for the Cotto fight. I’m not saying he didn’t, but this is America, and he did throw about 300 more punches than Cotto, loaded gloves or not. And offering the suggestion of evidence is not, in my opinion, enough to condemn a whole man’s career as a farce. If we did that, we wouldn’t have ever gotten a Margarito/Mosley fight in the first place.
JV
February 13th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
i just can’t imagine that margarito would choose the mosley fight as his first to load his gloves in. he beats cintron and cotto with beatdowns of epic proportions fairly to become a superstar in the sport… and then he decides to throw some plaster in his gloves in the mosley fight?? i just don’t think there’s any way that’s how it went down. and when you look at the damage he inflicted on both of those dudes… i’m just putting 2 and 2 together and saying there is a hiiiigh probability he has been using loaded gloves for some time before he got caught prior to the mosley fight.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Things just keep going from bad to worse for Bob Arum and Top Rank. Remember back in December after Arum’s diminutive boxer Manny Pacquiao destroyed rival promoter/star boxer/biggest name in boxing Oscar de La Hoya? Arum had boxing by the balls. He had Antonio Margarito ready to do away with another Golden Boy fighter in Mosley, then he would have Margarito and another great fighter in his stable, Cotto, fight each other, possibly setting up a third match or a fight with Money Mayweather. Back in December he had Pacquaio committed to a 50-50 split against Golden Boy punching bag Ricky Hatton……now it’s all going to shit. Pacquiao’s upset at Arum and has people chirping in his ear that Arum is ripping him off and he deserves bigger cuts, expect this situation to get worse. Margarito did a good job of committing profession suicide by trying to load his gloves then goes out and gets his ass literally kicked by a 37 year old, 4-to-1 underdog who fights for Golden Boy…you gotta believe Arum was thinking that’s as bad as things can get. Right? What else can happen. Well, I just read that Cotto is very,very unhappy with the position Top Rank has taken on the Margarito story. Arum must have been drinking champange on New Years thinking 2009 is going to one of Top Ranks best years ever….now it’s looking like a nightmare. Cotto and Pacquiao may be looking for outs, and you can bet Golden Boy will be welcoming them with open arms….Poor Bob.
February 14th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I’m watching this fight OnDemand for probably the last time ’cause it is expiring soon, and somebody deleted it from the DVR.
I just wanted to thank the writers of this site along with the commenters for bringing me the news and background stories.
I consider myself a fan of the Sweet Science, and part of the draw is the stories behind the fights.
I won’t be home tonight, and have to tape the fight, what’s the story with this fight? Who do we like?
February 14th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Campbell vs. Funeka is the main event. Campbell actually missed weight yesterday and had to relinquish his belts but the fight is still going on, with only Funeka able to claim the belts. After that, Campbell said he will move up to 140 pounds. I’ve seen Campbell fight about 6 times. He’s a pressure fighter who’s very good on the inside, and is a vicious body-puncher when at his best (he cost himself his fight against Hlatschwyo by giving up the body after the first 5 rounds). Hes tough and will make you work the entire fight. I’ve never seen Funeka fight, but the scouting report is that hes a very tall lightweight with a lot of power. Campbell’s the favorite, but a lot of experts think it’s going to be a close fight. I can’t make a pick since I’ve never seen Funeka.
The middle fight is Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron. This could be a barnburner. I’ve only seen Martinez once, in his HBO appearance a few months back, and he looked great. Insanely quick, moves around a lot, and throws a lot of combinations. Cintron, on the other hand, has a whole lot of power. He has 2 losses to his name, but we may have to consider him *undefeated*, since his only losses were to Margarito. My official pick for this fight is Cintron, with a very low confidence level. I haven’t seen enough of Martinez to have a strong feeling either way, and there are too many unknowns with Cintron between Margarito and the fact that he’s moving up a weight class.
The first fight is Alfredo Angulo-Cosme Rivera. Rivera is taking the fight on 4 days notice and will probably be slaughtered. He did knock down Andre Berto when they fought, but he is pretty much just a stepping stone fighter for prospects at this point. And Angulo is downright nasty. Think Antonio Margarito, except he does it clean (I hope.) I’ve seen him 3 or 4 times at this point, and every time he just wears his opponent down with a constant attack. Its not particularly pretty, buy its fun to watch. Rivera has balls taking this fight on 4 days.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I wanna hang wit a couple o deez dudes. Briks, Philly, and Large are from around the way. See yous around.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
P.S. I’m home and ready to watch HBO now. talk to you when I see them.
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