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• So now what do we do with Antonio Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo in the wake of the disclosure that the hand wraps seized by the California State Athletic Commission prior Margarcheato's fight with Shane Mosley in January tested positive for the primary elements of plaster of paris, namely sulfur and calcium?
Margarcheato and Capetillo are both already banned from boxing in the U.S. for at least a year after California revoked both of their licenses. It's not long enough.
According to California's forensic evidence, they committed the mortal sin of boxing by attempting to cheat in such a potentially life-threatening manner.
Maybe they will appeal. Maybe they will still seek to have a fight outside of the U.S., such as Mexico, where officials couldn't give a damn about our rules. Whatever happens, they are both tarnished for life and deserve an even more severe punishment than has already been doled out.
Now, I am no scientist but I do know that having plaster of paris on your fists during a fight would certainly be extremely dangerous for an opponent. A boxer's hands are already dangerous enough. Turning them into rocks is a chilling thought. Sulfur and calcium simply do not belong anywhere near hand wraps. That they were there can be no accident.
Margarcheato can claim all he wants that he had no idea what was in his wraps, which means, at best, he's ignorant. At worst, he's a criminal. I've talked to numerous fighters since the incident. To a man, they told me that a fighter knows what is on his hands.
Capetillo has offered the pitiful excuse that he grabbed the wrong pads out of his work bag and that it was a "mistake" that he put the tainted pads into Margarcheato wraps. I bet the dog also ate his homework, too. If you really believe it was a mistake, I've got some Enron stock to sell you.
Why would Capetillo even have those sorts of dirty pads in the first place? The whole thing stinks.
I know no proof has been offered, but it's hard to believe that Margarcheato's gloves were not loaded during his vicious late-fight beat down against Miguel Cotto over the summer. Frankly, I believe he cheated against Cotto. Maybe he also cheated against others. Every one of his wins is now tainted.
Cotto feels the same way, telling El Nuevo Diaz in Puerto Rico, "They attacked not only me, but my health. God only know how many [times] they used it, with Mosley, me and before me. They must bear the full weight of the law. During my career, I have received punishment in a number of fights, and I've never been so swollen as I was when I left the fight with Margarito. In the heat of battle everything felt normal, but my face didn't say the same thing. And for a few weeks afterwards half my face was swollen. Like I've said, the case of [trainer] Panama Lewis was exactly the same and he was suspended for life."
Lewis wound up doing jail time for removing the padding from Luis Resto's gloves before his 1983 fight with Billy Collins. Resto also did time. Margarcheato and Capetillo should be thankful they're not behind bars.
• Promoter Lou DiBella might want to keep his prospects away from "ShoBox" fights in Oklahoma. DiBella got his third undefeated prospect bumped off on a "ShoBox" card in Oklahoma on Saturday when junior middleweight Harry Joe Yorgey knocked out Ronald Hearns. Previously, junior featherweight Gary Stark suffered his first loss -- albeit a highly controversial decision -- to Mike Oliver in February 2007, and super middleweight Jaidon Codrington, one of the hottest prospects in the sport at the time, was drilled by Allan Green in 18 seconds in November 2005. "Let's just say we're not Sooner fans," Carl Moretti, DiBella's right-hand man, joked with me the other day.
• I know I am not alone in this thinking, but I believe the April 25 fight between super middleweight titlist Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor is going to be sensational. I still scratch my head wondering why HBO insanely passed on the bout but am happy that Showtime realized how good it could be and anted up.
Margarcheato and Capetillo are both already banned from boxing in the U.S. for at least a year after California revoked both of their licenses. It's not long enough.
According to California's forensic evidence, they committed the mortal sin of boxing by attempting to cheat in such a potentially life-threatening manner.
Maybe they will appeal. Maybe they will still seek to have a fight outside of the U.S., such as Mexico, where officials couldn't give a damn about our rules. Whatever happens, they are both tarnished for life and deserve an even more severe punishment than has already been doled out.
Now, I am no scientist but I do know that having plaster of paris on your fists during a fight would certainly be extremely dangerous for an opponent. A boxer's hands are already dangerous enough. Turning them into rocks is a chilling thought. Sulfur and calcium simply do not belong anywhere near hand wraps. That they were there can be no accident.
Margarcheato can claim all he wants that he had no idea what was in his wraps, which means, at best, he's ignorant. At worst, he's a criminal. I've talked to numerous fighters since the incident. To a man, they told me that a fighter knows what is on his hands.
Capetillo has offered the pitiful excuse that he grabbed the wrong pads out of his work bag and that it was a "mistake" that he put the tainted pads into Margarcheato wraps. I bet the dog also ate his homework, too. If you really believe it was a mistake, I've got some Enron stock to sell you.
Why would Capetillo even have those sorts of dirty pads in the first place? The whole thing stinks.
I know no proof has been offered, but it's hard to believe that Margarcheato's gloves were not loaded during his vicious late-fight beat down against Miguel Cotto over the summer. Frankly, I believe he cheated against Cotto. Maybe he also cheated against others. Every one of his wins is now tainted.
Cotto feels the same way, telling El Nuevo Diaz in Puerto Rico, "They attacked not only me, but my health. God only know how many [times] they used it, with Mosley, me and before me. They must bear the full weight of the law. During my career, I have received punishment in a number of fights, and I've never been so swollen as I was when I left the fight with Margarito. In the heat of battle everything felt normal, but my face didn't say the same thing. And for a few weeks afterwards half my face was swollen. Like I've said, the case of [trainer] Panama Lewis was exactly the same and he was suspended for life."
Lewis wound up doing jail time for removing the padding from Luis Resto's gloves before his 1983 fight with Billy Collins. Resto also did time. Margarcheato and Capetillo should be thankful they're not behind bars.
• Promoter Lou DiBella might want to keep his prospects away from "ShoBox" fights in Oklahoma. DiBella got his third undefeated prospect bumped off on a "ShoBox" card in Oklahoma on Saturday when junior middleweight Harry Joe Yorgey knocked out Ronald Hearns. Previously, junior featherweight Gary Stark suffered his first loss -- albeit a highly controversial decision -- to Mike Oliver in February 2007, and super middleweight Jaidon Codrington, one of the hottest prospects in the sport at the time, was drilled by Allan Green in 18 seconds in November 2005. "Let's just say we're not Sooner fans," Carl Moretti, DiBella's right-hand man, joked with me the other day.
• I know I am not alone in this thinking, but I believe the April 25 fight between super middleweight titlist Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor is going to be sensational. I still scratch my head wondering why HBO insanely passed on the bout but am happy that Showtime realized how good it could be and anted up.
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