Antonio Margarito Hand Wraps Featured As Breaking News On ESPN!!

Tests show plaster of Paris ingredients
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The hand wraps confiscated from former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito shortly before his title defense against "Sugar" Shane Mosley contained two primary elements of plaster of Paris, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing documents obtained from California's top law enforcement agency.

A California Department of Justice senior criminalist who inspected the wrappings under a stereomicroscope and with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer determined the wraps contained sulfur and calcium, according to a document obtained by the Times. Those two elements, with the addition of oxygen, make plaster of Paris.

The hand wraps were removed from Margarito's fists shortly before his Jan. 24 title fight against Mosley when Mosley's trainer, Nazim Richardson, objected to their use. The hardened gauze pads, which had been inserted inside the hand wraps near Margarito's knuckles, were seized by the California State Athletic Commission, which sanctions and oversees boxing in the state.

Mosley went on to claim a TKO win in the ninth round and take the WBA welterweight title.

In February, following a hearing days after the fight, the state athletic commission revoked the licenses of Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, for one year. The commission's decision is likely to be upheld in other states.

"The [state athletic] commission's decision appears to be supported by that report," said Karen Chappelle, the state supervising deputy attorney general for licensing who urged the state commission to revoke Margarito's and Capetillo's licenses.

"The only things that are allowed in hand wraps are gauze and tape and those items aren't gauze and tape," she said, according to the Times.

Margarito and Capetillo have yet to appeal the revocations of their licenses.

According to the report, Margarito's promoter, Bob Arum, had no immediate response to the findings.

"I'd have to see [the report]," Arum said.

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