Antonio Margarito Should be Behind Bars Not in a Boxing Ring

The story has been well documented, Antonio Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo having their licenses revoked in February '09 by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) a few weeks after it was discovered that before Margarito fought Shane Mosley in his first defence of the WBA welterweight title his hand wraps had been coated in plaster of Paris.

Now it’s looking like the state of Texas has granted Margarito a licence to fight Carson Jones on the Pacquiao vs. Clottery undercard March 13, at the Cowboy’s stadium, Arlington, Texas. Margarito is not deserving of fighting in such a venue, neither is he worthy of appearing on such an undercard. The world will be watching this event is Margarito the kind of fighter we want representing the sweet science.

And Uncle Bob where do I start, the fact Bob Arum supports this is preposterous bearing in mind the fight before Margarito was caught cheating was his destruction of Miguel Cotto, also an Arum fighter. Many fans question if his gloves where loaded during this fight, considering the state of the Puerto Rican's face you would have to assume yes, a part of Cotto the warrior died that night (Image below).



Even more ludicrous is the fact Arum knows all too well the consequence of such actions as it where he who promoted the controversial Luis Resto vs. Billy Collins bout in 1983 at Madison Square Garden. After the fight the face of Collins was a bloody mess. As Resto went to his opponent’s corner to shake hands with his father the corner discovered the gloves where unusually thin, The NYSAC impounded the gloves an investigation discovered padding had been removed from each glove. Collins suffered a torn Iris and never fought again, the following year Collins died by driving off a cliff; many think he may have committed suicide because he was unable to continue boxing as a result of the actions of Resto and trainer Panama Lewis.

In October 1986, Lewis and Resto were both put on trial and found guilty of assault; Resto was convicted of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon (his fists). He served two and a half years of a three-year sentence. Both he and Lewis were banned from boxing for life.

Panama Lewis was sentenced to Six years, you may remember Panama Lewis form the incident during the Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Arguello bout in 1982, at the end of the thirteenth round ringside cameras caught Lewis screaming “give me the bottle, not that one the one I mixed.” Pryor knocked Arguello out in the fourteenth. Years later during an interview Resto revealed that Lewis would break up pills to treat asthma and mix them with water to give his fighters greater lung capacity in the later rounds of a fight. Nothing was ever proven and Pryor needed only 10 rounds to stop Arguello in their rematch the following year.

Money should not talk in this sport and the rules should be consistent, it’s impossible not to be aware of the fact someone is loading your gloves and Promoters have a moral responsibility to banish anyone caught cheating.

Source: theboxinghistorian.com