Antonio Margarito, trainer banned in U.S

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May 13, 2002
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#1
Here is the link to story and video:
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3897765



Margarito's License Revoked


The California State Athletic Commission revoked the licenses of former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo on Tuesday, banning them for at least one year for tampering with Margarito's hand wraps before he was to face Shane Mosley on Jan. 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Voting 7-0 on both motions for revocation, the panel found that they put a plaster-like substance on illegal pads inside Margarito's hand wraps.

Before Margarito was knocked out in the ninth round, Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, had objected to the way Margarito's left hand was wrapped. When the wrap was cut off, officials found a suspect bandage wrap inside the knuckle pad that would be placed over Margarito's hands.

Richardson then insisted that the wrap on Margarito's right hand be checked and another identical illegal pad was discovered. Margarito eventually had his hands re-wrapped and went on to lose the fight.

The panel rejected Margarito's plea of ignorance -- he told the panel that he just held up his hands to be wrapped -- and Capetillo's insistence that he had simply made a mistake during a hearing that lasted more than five hours in Van Nuys.

Che Guevara, the inspector responsible for supervising Margarito's hand wrapping, testified that he had never seen that sort of pad used before, apparently missing it being slipped in to the initial wrap before Richardson's objections.

Another inspector, Mike Bray, said during questioning that he had seen the pads and that they were "moist and dirty looking with a white substance smeared across the pad, like a cast plaster."

The commission has yet to identify the substance on the pads and said it won't know what it is until testing is completed next month.

Capetillo said he accidentally put the wrong inserts into his fighter's hand wraps, reaching for the wrong pads in his equipment bag.

"I committed a big mistake," Capetillo told the panel and the standing-room only crowd. "I don't want this young man [Margarito] to have problems. I'm here to cover any responsibility. I take full responsibility. I committed this innocent mistake."

The revocations mean that neither Margarito nor Capetillo can participate in boxing in the United States for at least one year. After a year, both can reapply for their licenses in California, where they would have to go through another hearing. There is no guarantee either would be re-licensed.

"The conduct of both Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo was unacceptable and threatened the health and safety of another licensee," Carrie Lopez, the director of the state's Department of Consumer Affairs, which licenses fighters, told the Associated Press. "Today's action shows that both the Department of Consumer Affairs and the California State Athletic Commission take the issue of boxer safety very seriously, and will move quickly when a licensee's actions threaten the safety of others."

The punishment extends throughout the nation because commissions generally honor suspensions and revocations in other jurisdictions.

Top Rank's Bob Arum, Margarito's promoter, was incensed by the ruling and said they would fight it through California state court.

"It's the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced," Arum told ESPN.com. "It's not going to hold up. The commission determined that Antonio knew nothing and did nothing wrong, but that he is head of his team, so he's responsible for the trainer and, therefore, it is appropriate to revoke his license.

"How can you revoke somebody's license when they didn't do anything or wrong or attempt to do anything wrong? Capetillo admitted that he made an inadvertent mistake and said Tony knew nothing about it. Margarito is a nice guy and deserves better than this."

During the hearing, Margarito attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who has represented such clients as Fred Goldman of O.J. Simpson civil trial fame and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, had an inspector say that Margarito didn't appear to know what was going on.

Arum said he would fight it in court as well as appeal to the Association of Boxing Commissions, which represents state and tribal boxing commissions.

While trying to have the ruling overturned, Arum said he would set up a fight for Margarito in Mexico. Although other states will respect California's ruling, other countries won't necessarily adhere to it. Fighters banned in America have often found Mexico hospitable.

The ruling means that Margartio's proposed June rematch with Miguel Cotto, whom he knocked out last summer to win the title, is off unless the ruling is reversed.

"We'll figure out a fight for him in Mexico," Arum said. "It will be on one of our pay-per-view shows this summer. I think we'd have the opportunity to do 200,000 or 300,000 buys."

Mosley thought the punishment for Margarito was a little harsh, although he agreed with Capetillo's.

"I just think that Capetillo was the one wrapping his hands and knew what was going on," Mosley told ESPN.com. "He should be penalized. Margarito probably should not be as penalized. Capetillo was the one who did it. Margarito is the fighter and he just probably put his hands out there to be wrapped and ready to fight. Capetillo went to the rules meeting. He's the one who knew how to wrap the hands. He took it upon himself to make the wrap different. It should be mainly Capetillo who gets the brunt of everything."

Arum said he felt like the commission had already made up its mind before the hearing.

"Everyone in that room felt he would walk, but this pre-ordained. It was 7-0. That's impossible," he said. "If it was being it decided at that time they voted, maybe it's 5-2, 6-1. Not 7-0."

Margarito did receive support from Jorge Ramos, the mayor of his hometown of Tijuana, who extended an invitation to him to fight in the city "anytime."

"We welcome Antonio Margarito with open arms, and want him to know that when he is ready to fight again we want him to come to his hometown," Ramos said in a statement released by Top Rank. "He has been an exemplary athlete and has for many years represented the city of Tijuana with great pride and honor, so it is a natural for us to continue to support him in his career that should not be blemished by a commission that was not presented with evidence of any wrongdoing by our native son."

Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com.


_______

Sucks for Margarito and his fans, his career is over. I'm glad to see boxing step up and take such a strong stance on this serious issue. And bob arum is crazy if he thinks margarito ppv in mexico could sell 300k. not after this.
 
May 6, 2002
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A year goes by pretty quick. Even though Mexico will allow him to fight, the only people who would take it are up and commers. If Margarito still fights, I would think Cotto would take the rematch if the money is right.
 
May 13, 2002
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A year goes by pretty quick.
There is no guarantee he'll be allowed to fight in a year. First they have to wait for the lab results in mid-march which could extend the suspension. And 2nd, he has to reapply for his license after the suspension and there is no guarantee he'll be given a license.


Even though Mexico will allow him to fight, the only people who would take it are up and commers. If Margarito still fights, I would think Cotto would take the rematch if the money is right.
I heard Cotto said he would never fight Margarito in Mexico. Maybe he would at Madison square garden after his suspension, but so many things could happen by then it seems kind of unlikely.
 

Tony

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May 15, 2002
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Margarito knew what was going on... Mosely is just being a gentleman. How can you not know what's going on when you're getting your hands taped up to fight? I don't believe Margarito didn't know and I believe they probably used that against Cintron and Cotto, that's why they probably couldn't take his punches.
 
May 13, 2002
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No question Margarito knew, so of course he's responsible too. I do feel a little bad for him though because a trainer is someone that is supposed to take care of you and look out for your best interests. There is a ton of trust that a fighter gives to his trainer and like margarito has said in the past, he's like a father figure to him. So I'm sure margarito would do anything this guy told him, never thought about it, just did it.

Still no excuse.

This is fucked up, others are coming out:

Yahoo sports
And one of Margarito’s sparring partners, Rashad Hollaway, told an even more damning story to Ryan Songalia of BoxingScene.com about a Dec. 19 sparring session with Margarito in which he was seriously injured by a left uppercut thrown by Margarito.

“When it first happened, I didn’t know what hit me,” Hollaway told Songalia. “I’ve been hit 50 million times in my career, but I’d never been hit with a shot that hurt like that. It felt like a hard object hit me in the face. I thought he hit me with the palm of his hand. It wasn’t like a normal punch. It didn’t feel like a padded glove hit me. It was like a solid, hard impact. It felt like I had been hit with a bag of rocks.”​
 
May 6, 2002
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Ha, I dont buy the sparring partner story. No real reason to pad gloves during training.

Did you read Arum's latest comments? What a joke...

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum has commented on the Antonio Margarito situation:

“We want to publicly thank the president of the World Boxing Council, Jose Sulaiman, for his forthright and compelling statement regarding the Margarito bandaging situation. President Sulaiman is 100% correct in stating that Margarito should not be punished since he was totally unaware of the improper bandaging. The commission hearing established Margarito’s lack of knowledge and innocence. The commission punishment is based on the theory that the boxer is the captain of his team and is responsible for any wrongdoing of his trainer or any of his cornermen. This is not the law. When Roger Mayweather, trainer for Floyd Mayweather, entered the ring improperly during the Mayweather vs. Judah fight, Roger was punished but the Nevada commission quite properly never suggested that Floyd be punished. We in America should respect the law, fundamental legal principles and not be swayed by emotion. The ‘message’ sent by the California Athletic Commission is the wrong message. The correct ‘message’ is that a person should only be punished if he or she is guilty of wrongdoing. We hope that Margarito will appeal the unjust revocation of his California boxing license.”
 

Tony

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May 15, 2002
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This is fucked up, others are coming out:

Yahoo sports
And one of Margarito’s sparring partners, Rashad Hollaway, told an even more damning story to Ryan Songalia of BoxingScene.com about a Dec. 19 sparring session with Margarito in which he was seriously injured by a left uppercut thrown by Margarito.

“When it first happened, I didn’t know what hit me,” Hollaway told Songalia. “I’ve been hit 50 million times in my career, but I’d never been hit with a shot that hurt like that. It felt like a hard object hit me in the face. I thought he hit me with the palm of his hand. It wasn’t like a normal punch. It didn’t feel like a padded glove hit me. It was like a solid, hard impact. It felt like I had been hit with a bag of rocks.”​

LOL... they were testing out the plaster...
 
Oct 25, 2006
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May 13, 2002
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Official, PLASTER




Antonio Margarito's Wraps Contained "Plaster Elements"

By Mark Vester

The reputation of Antonio Margarito, a former three time welterweight champion, has taken yet another hit. Margarito's career has been under fire since his hand wraps were confiscated about thirty minutes prior to the bout with Shane Mosley on January 24. Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson felt Margarito's wraps in the dressing room, and then indicated to an inspector for the California State Athletic Commission that Margarito's wraps were hard. After Margarito was asked to remove his wraps to have them inspected, two hard inserts were found. He was asked to re-wrap his hands and would later get knocked out by Mosley.

He was ordered to attend a hearing, along with trainer Javiar Capetillo, before the CSAC. The CSAC found that Margarito's wraps contained a foreign substance. They revoked the licenses of Margarito and Capetillo [both can re-apply in one year]. The exact nature of the foreign substance was never revealed because the hard inserts were sent to a lab for a review that would take several weeks to complete.

The Los Angeles Times obtained documents from the Department of Justice laboratory which revealed that Margarito's hand wraps containted calcium and sulfur, two of the primary elements of plaster of Paris.

The Times reports that a Department of Justice senior criminalist inspected the wrappings under stereomicroscope and X-ray flourescence spectrometer, and said calcium and sulfur were discovered.

In his report dated March 19, he said the two found elements, when mixed with oxygen - make plaster of Paris.