it's not normal, how Johnson and West react after gettin punched by Margarito. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-otOarNdV0[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K7_wwgRgeU[/ame]
Indeed, getting hit flush in the head and body over and over can cause physical pain. Thanks for pointing this out.
Margarito is suspect; that goes without saying. As to whether or not he was wearing cheating tools throughout his career? To far for me. He's a pressure fighter working on accumilation. These are the worst beatings to absorb in terms of physical discomfort. Might be on the level.
To accept that Margarito is not knowingly a cheater, we have to come to terms with the following facts: 1. Capetillo stated at first that they didn't wrap Margarito's hands any differently than they always do and didn't understand what was wrong. 2. Margarito could not feel the two blocks of plaster in his wraps, and did not see them inserted into his wraps when his hands were wrapped before the Mosley fight. 3. Capetillo stated those wraps were meant for another fighter and were accidentally placed in Margarito's bag, and so he used them. 4. Margarito's KO percentage jumped from approximately 50% before Capetillo took over as his trainer, to more than 85% in the years since, regardless of the fact that his competition increased to the elite level. 5. In the one fight we 'know' without a shadow of a doubt that Margarito was using legal wraps, against Mosley, his punches looked weak and ineffectual, presenting little difficulty for Mosley even on flush connects. So, let's look at this logically - Capetillo would knowingly cheat for lesser fighters, but not for his one main fighter on the world stage. Capetillo would cheat to help Margarito against Shane Mosley, in a fight deemed less challenging than his fights against Joshua Clottey, Paul Williams and Miguel Cotto. Margarito's knockout ratio continued to climb as his level of opposition increased, even though one would deduce that as one fights better fighters, one would actually achieve 'fewer' knockouts than over cab drivers in Tijuana. I think this is pretty obvious. Don't you?
I agree with the spirit of your post, but we have to be careful. Hasegawa has developed into a KO artist as he's moved up in class, are we to deduce he is cheating also?
There are fighters that do develop as finishers later on in their careers, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Hasegawa does have a string of KOs lately but his KO percentage still isn't what I'd call outstanding. His competition in those fights hasn't been particularly awesome - with the exception of perhaps Malinga, who had just come off a win over Sahaprom, they've been pretty much up-and-comers rather than serious contenders. That's just my own personal opinion though. I'm not basing my entire assertion on that alone. But point well-made, McGrain. Thanks for your input.
