Was Margarito's gloves loaded in the Cotto fight?

That is probably all true. Mosley most likely cheated in every fight of his career and the only fighter that cheated that night against Margo was Shane. The only clean fight Mosley had was against Mayweather and he looked like total crap being chased around the ring by little Floyd of all people.

 

thats what Ive been screaming since this whole thing broke out, It makes no sense that he would have used them for mosely and not cotto, especially if the way he tore up cotto's face was "legit"

 

It was June of 2008, and several boxing writers noted the 25th anniversary of one of the most notorious crimes in pugilistic history, the June 1983 assault by Luis Resto of undefeated Bob Arum prospect “Irish” Billy Collins by way of Panama Lewis’ removal of the stuffing from Resto’s gloves.

Everyone’s lives changed after that atrocious offense: Neither Collins nor Resto would fight again, and Collins would be dead from a car crash nine months later, unable to face down the physical and psychological effects of the devastation from his last foray through the ropes. Resto and Lewis would serve prison time and become ostracized.

Two years ago, while some devoted articles and columns to remember Collins and the infamous bout, others enthusiastically anticipated an explosive welterweight showdown between two of the roughest and best from the sport’s premier division, undefeated star titlist Miguel Cotto versus the feared Antonio Margarito. On July 26, 2008, the fight lived up to expectations, but when Cotto and his early lead eventually withered under the Mexican’s brutal attack for an 11th round stoppage, no one had Billy Collins and Luis Resto on their minds.

We now know what was witnessed in June 1983 on the Roberto Duran-Davey Moore undercard, with the findings of the New York commission and criminal courts along with Resto’s confession, including a recent admission to using plaster of Paris that night. Will we ever know what exactly we saw when Margarito bloodied, battered and busted up Cotto in Las Vegas that summer night?

And will we ever see the Miguel Cotto we knew before the Margarito loss?

No definitive proof exists that Margarito loaded his gloves against Cotto that night, unlike the January 2010 Shane Mosley bout, when trainer Naazim Richardson caught Margarito’s cornerman Javier Capetillo trying to sneak a piece of plaster into Margarito’s handwraps. Without Richardon’s keen eye, he would have gotten away with it – one handwrap had already been loaded, unbeknownst to the California Commission’s rep – and we may have never even suspected foul play in his Cotto victory.

Without direct proof in the form of an eyewitness coming forward or an admission from Margarito or Capetillo, chances are slim to none of revisiting the Margarito-Cotto contest or of Nevada criminal action. Some facts, however, provide circumstantial evidence to at least arouse suspicion that Margarito cheated against Cotto:

- He was caught attempting to load his gloves in his very next bout, just six months later.
- According to several reports, the inserts had what appeared to be dried blood on them, leading some to speculate that was Cotto’s blood.
- A photo surfaced this year of Margarito posing after the Cotto win, with a discolored handwrap.
- Unlike any fight in the past, including struggles with Ricardo Torres and Mosley, Cotto’s face became misshapen and swollen in spite of punches that (in retrospect) did not appear proportionately hard enough to cause such damage.
- Margarito’s past started to perhaps make more sense – a sparring partner claiming he broke his orbital bone; a freak 2005 injury to opponent Sebastian Lujan where half of his ear tore off from a Margarito punch; and unorthodox arm punches wilting foes.

But that would have required Capetillo and Margarito to get over on not only the Nevada Commission in July 2008, but several other officials, and opposing trainers, in previous bouts. And though Cotto reacted differently to the Margarito onslaught than he had in the past, he had been susceptible to getting hurt and worn down before.

In 2005, Cotto got rocked in a big way by both DeMarcus Corley and Ricardo Torres before storming back to take them out. Less than nine months before he faced Margarito, he spent the last third of the grueling Mosley affair in a retreat mode vaguely similar to the one ineffectively employed against “the Tijuana Tornado.”

Yet, anyone claiming that Cotto’s been the same fighter in the last two years after the Margarito loss had not closely followed his career. He’s only 29 but takes punches like he’s 50. In the Joshua Clottey and Manny Pacquiao bouts, he didn’t respond to punches the same as he did before Margarito, he retreated for rounds at a time again and his face started to bear a striking resemblance to that fateful July night.

Are defensive and strategic liabilities in Cotto’s game just now manifesting as he faces another level of competition, or is something else at play here?

Before the Margarito loss, Cotto was an offensive machine who walked through fire to punish opponents with brutal body shots and precise power connects. He stopped Gianluca Branco and Carlos Quintana with vicious punches to the arm and body, and he broke Paulie Malignaggi’s jaw and battered Zab Judah around the ring. Though he eked out a razor-thin victory over Mosley, he took Sugar Shane’s powerful blows well.

He seemed destined to reach heights of greatness like his Puerto Rican predecessors, such as Felix Trinidad and Wilfred Benitez, and he’ll attempt to resume that quest this Saturday night at Yankee Stadium against skill boxer Yuri Foreman in a junior middleweight WBA title bout. Time will tell whether Cotto’s stretch as one of the best has passed and whether his post-Margarito problems inside the ring resulted from that July 2008 night or from the caliber of opponent he faced.

I can’t say what happened in Las Vegas on July 26, 2008, other than to join in on unproductive speculation. We can all reach our own conclusions, some clouded by allegiance to Margarito, Cotto or their nations.

There is no right or wrong answer about what happened that night, at least not yet.

As for me, for what it’s worth, I know what I’ve seen from both men before, during and after the fight, and when it comes to what went down between Margarito and Cotto, I can say this:

My opinion... I don’t like it.

 

no **** he would say that... he works for the nevada comission, if it wer ever publicly known that something slipped by them when checking the gloves the whole comission would be jepordized

 

The commission also cleared Margo's wraps for the Mosley fight..... Naazim was the one who found the tainted wraps.

 

Margarito beat his ass, Accept it and move on.
(It happens, Boxers catch beatdowns)

 

It happens yes, but the rounds in which Margo took over and how quickly Cotto began to fade perfectly explain why I think the gloves were loaded. Cotto faded very fast after the 6th or 7th round. I understand the body work Margo landed in the early rounds counts for something but would it have "that" much effect? When Margo started to land, and land often after Cotto tired, Cotto's face told the tale of "****" that hurt. You could tell mentally he was wanting to call it quits. You didn't see the same in the first 5 or 6 rounds. Not until the Plaster started to harded if indeed, there was Plaster. We can argue all day long, but the way the fight turned around quickly and how much Cotto's face was ****ed up. One has to question the integrity of Margo. And he was in fact, caught cheating in his fight with Mosely. Not cheat against a guy who just beat Mosely but Cheat against Mosely. There's nothing that can be said, to make most folks change their mind, especially not "Accept it, beat downs happen".

 

:good This...

& the fact that Margarito simply just walked through EVERYTHING Cotto had.
IMO, seeing his best shots eaten that way diminished Cotto's confidence.

 

If John L was here, he'd laugh at this thread.

We wouldn't be having theses issues if we hadn't introduced GLOVES into the sport and turned it into a game for sissies !

 

Obviously yes.

 

Any thoughts on Tito ?

He got caught with illegal wrappings by Bernard's team.

His dad said that was how he always wrapped.

After that, he was under closer scrutiny and his record fell to three losses against two wins.


If we believe his dad, what does that do to his legacy ?

 

First and foremost margarito is not a big puncher, mosley hits harder and so does judah. infact torres at 140 possibly hits as hard as margarito, but the night they fought margarito looked like he had bricks for fists , something wrong.

have we ever heard who checked margaritos hands in the cotto camp?

 

Who checked Cotto's?
Bottomline, Cotto took some shot's and folded like a chair.

 

cotto isnt under scrutiny , margarito is , whatever your language culture or creed, margarito is the lowest form of human being on the planet , to try and load your fists for 1 or 100 fights means he should be banned for life. If you saw his last fight against Garcia , he couldnt break an egg against a man who had mainly beat men with losing records.

 

They weren't illegal, they just didn't like the way they wrapped them.

Oh and those 3 losses were to Roy Jones, Winky, and Hopkins.... those don't sound like bums to me...