Blow by blow account of what went on in Margaritos dressing room as told by Nazim

Ill post some of the main points but everyone should read the full story at:

http://www.hbo.com/boxing/events/2009/0124_margarito_mosley/columns/nazim_profile.html


Controversy erupted before a single punch had been thrown. As first reported during the broadcast by HBO commentator Larry Merchant, "plaster-like" substances were removed from Margarito's hand-wraps. Prior to the fight the substances were discovered during an inspection by Mosley's trainer, Nazim Richardson, and then confiscated by Dean Lohuis, chief athletic inspector of the California State Athletic Commission. They now serve as exhibits A and B in the Commission's investigation into whether Margarito or members of his team conspired to load the fighter's gloves to increase his punching power. On Wednesday, the CSAC temporarily suspended the licenses of Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo. Both Margarito and Capetillo have been ordered to appear at a hearing scheduled for February 10, 2009. Should they be found guilty by the Commission, they face a potentially long suspension or even banishment from the sport altogether.

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Nazim Richardson's account of the evening, however, contradicts that assertion and also calls into question that of Espinoza. As Richardson tells the story, when he entered Margarito's dressing room, the "pads" had been prepared (the thick gauze wrapping that goes over the knuckles), but the wrapping process had not yet begun. They were just beginning to work on Margarito's right hand when Richardson arrived.

"They started putting tape on the wrist and the thumb on the right hand," Richardson said, "and they were putting too much tape directly onto the skin. No gauze, just putting tape directly onto the skin on the wrist of the right hand."

Taping directly to the skin is against the rules, so Richardson protested. When the Commission representative who was present said that he was fine with what they were doing, Richardson asked that Dean Lohuis, the Commission's chief athletic inspector, be brought into the room. He says Lohuis agreed that there was too much tape being applied directly to Margarito's skin and had them rewrap it. It took them two more tries to appease both Richardson and Lohuis. The real shocker, however, occurred when they moved on to the fighter's left hand.

"When he started on the left hand," Richardson says, "I asked to feel the cushion (the pad) before he put it on the knuckle. I asked the deputy from the Commission, 'Did you squeeze the cushion on the right hand?' And he said no. So Margarito put the right hand up and said, 'Go ahead you can feel it,' and I said, 'No, let me squeeze this cushion before he puts it on the left hand.'"

"So when I squeezed the cushion, it was brick hard. I said, 'This is not right.' I asked the deputy to feel it, so he felt it, and he said, 'It feels all right to me.' I said, 'No, that thing is too hard.' So I asked the commissioner (Lohuis) to feel it, and he said, 'Yeah, that does feel hard.' So he peeled it back, and when he peeled it back, a square block of old wet gauze fell out that was covered with plaster. And it had an old dried-up blood stain on it."

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"I took the two pieces, and I told the commissioner that I wasn't giving them back to [Margarito's people]. I said, 'I'm only giving these to Shane's lawyer.' So I took the two pieces when we went to Shane's room to wrap Shane's hands. The lawyer came over, and the commissioner came with us, and Shane's doctor [Robert Olvera] was there. The doctor scratched one of the pieces, and it chalked up. He said, 'This is the same plaster we use to make casts in the hospital.'"

At that point, Richardson says he took the pieces back from Olvera and then surrendered the evidence to Lohuis for investigation by the Commission. The pieces were placed in a box, which was sealed with tape and signed by Mosley's lawyer, Judd Burstein - but not before Richardson ordered several people with camera-phones to snap photos of the two blocks of gauze.

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As for the claim by Margarito's co-manager, Francisco Espinoza, that it was gauze that had grown humid and started to harden of its own accord, I ran that explanation past HBO commentator and Hall-of-Fame trainer, Emanuel Steward. He didn't find it plausible in the least. As proof of his point, he mentioned that he was about to auction off the hand-wraps that Lennox Lewis used in his fights with Mike Tyson and Hasim Rahman. For more than six years, Steward has kept them in a Ziploc bag. If damp gauze ever were inclined to harden over time, one would expect that those wraps would be stiff as boards by now.

"But that material," Steward told me, "is still soft."

 

Not looking good for Margarito and his team . . . Personally i think even if Margarito isnt guilty, has trainer certainly has something to answer to . . . I would love for them both to be found not guilty because thats good for boxing, but i dont see it happening.

 

As i said i hope everyone is found not guilty but it isnt looking like that is the case.