By Cliff Rold

Boxing in the first decade of the 2000’s has been good to the romantics…

The dreamers…

The Alger-ites.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Horatio Alger was popularized for assisting in the mythologizing of the American Dream.  He spun out dime store yarns about downtrodden figures pulling themselves up by the bootstraps to better themselves through singular struggle and character.

Boxing has played to the myth repeatedly in recent years.

In 2001, Middleweight titlist Bernard Hopkins overcame his battle against obscurity and a past marked by prison by drilling favored superstar Felix Trinidad into the floor on Trinidad’s home turf of Madison Square Garden.  Almost eight years later, heading towards his 44th birthday, he continues his battle and remains near the top, a product of focus and professionalism overcoming star power and preconceived notions.

In 2003, Welterweight king Vernon Forrest rode a wave of notoriety, a past as an Olympian, and universal acclaim as 2002’s Fighter of the Year, into a third round knockout loss.  The man who turned the trick rose from abject poverty in Nicaragua.  Ricardo Mayorga, at least for his moment, symbolized the rejection of elite ideas about prizefighters with a beer in one hand and blue-grey trails of tobacco smoke trailing behind him.

In 2007, an unheralded Argentine with nine losses stepped in against a Zab Judah tuning up for a Superfight defense of the undisputed World Welterweight championship against Floyd Mayweather Jr.  Judah still got that showdown, but he did it with an extra loss on his ledger after suffering a shocking loss to Carlos Baldomir.

Like the tales of Alger, the joy of the myth obscured the pesky details that come with reality.  In 2001, no one realized how good Hopkins really was.  Too much analysis on the affect of styles, strategy and preparation at play in bouts like Mayorga-Forrest and Baldomir-Judah could ruin the fun. 

Sometimes, the story is the thing.

On July 26, 2007, the magic of Alger was on display at ring center, in the corners, along the ropes, and streaming in crimson down the cheeks of burgeoning superstar Miguel Cotto.  For years, there had been a vocal corridor of the fistic faithful who marveled at the raw intensity and blue collar determination of Antonio Margarito.  He wasn’t the best athlete.  He didn’t possess the most skill.  Yet, for the most part, he won.

He had earned his shot at the real prize in prizefighting, the heavy payday that makes all the abuse of body worthwhile.  Against Cotto, finally, he got it and delivered.  It was the feel good story of the year, a reminder that Boxing is unlike any other sport.  Sometimes victory doesn’t go the fastest or strongest.  Sometimes, heart and will and courage prevail on the road to riches. 

On January 24, 2009, a new narrative began to spin, climaxing this past Tuesday when the California State Athletic Commission handed down the sentence of revoked licenses for Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo.  Sometimes, heart and will and courage prevail on the road to riches.

And sometimes the gloves are loaded. 

The speculation about when ‘sometimes’ was for Margarito will cost him more than the expected minimum year of his career California’s verdict takes away in the States.  Questions abound as to whether or not Margarito explicitly knew something was amiss.  Was this a single mistake caught in time or a sin long overlooked?

The answer doesn’t matter much right now. 

Look around at the comments from fans and pundits since Margarito’s knockout loss to Shane Mosley fight on the 24th.  Margarito is not the first fighter alleged to have loaded his gloves; the legend of Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard can’t be told without wondering about whether Dempsey packed more than leather.

Unlike Dempsey, Margarito’s case moved beyond speculation and brought back nightmarish memories of the Luis Resto-Billy Collins.  In 1983, Resto and trainer Panama Lewis were found to be guilty of removing padding from Resto’s gloves and loading them en route to a beating which ruined Collins career and, many believe, led to an untimely demise a few years later. 

Kudos have gone to Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson for catching what now are officially declared foul hand wraps.  The real foul though is what this verdict does to the picture of Margarito’s entire career.  No one knows, or will be able to know, whether or not Margarito’s career penchant for losing the early rounds only to batter his foes down the stretch was real or Memorex.  

Many will wager to guess and the room for speculation will feel like a betrayal both to fans and non-fans of Margarito.  The hints of irony lay out in three ways.

The first is that the verdict would come in the same week that Baseball’s regular season king of the decade, Alex Rodriguez, was caught in a tempest for cheating by way of performance enhancing substances.  Call it a loaded third basemen’s glove.

The second is found in the broader world.  Populist rage grows by the day in America and other parts of the developed world as economic crisis hits home.  Angry eyes turn to Wall Street and find a grand betrayal of not only the Alger myth but millions of everyday working people.  Few begrudge wealth earned through the toils of clean labor.  For years, the story was told that the ‘Masters of the Universe’ represented the best and brightest.  It turns out they were loading the books.

Finally, there is the man who defeated Margarito and whose team unleashed this storm.  Going into the Margarito fight, Shane Mosley was dealing with renewed inspection of his involvement with the Balco controversy and his use of performance enhancers.  A fighter respected by the fans for his style and willingness to fight the best even when it wasn’t always the wisest economic path, Mosley was sullied by the word choking Margarito, Rodriguez and Wall Street today.

Cheater.

While the Yankee and the Masters have much work in front of them, Mosley is an example for Margarito to look to.  At 37, he turned his negatives into a ninth-round knockout of a man most had never seen more than briefly staggered.

Mosley sits today in seat of the redeemed. 

Less than careful observation reveals a frequent popular culture cycle which comes in three turns of fate’s wheel.  There is a rise, a fall, and a chance for redemption.  It fuels its own myths every bit as strong as anything Alger ever produced.  It is a cycle played out many times in the sweet science.  Resto-Collins was of course on the undercard of Roberto Duran’s Lazarus like rebirth against Davey Moore. 

Duran was believed finished after his ‘No Mas’ quit against Ray Leonard and a loss to Kirkland Laing.  Moore begat a close fight with Middleweight legend Marvin Hagler and later a final masterpiece against a younger, larger Iran Barkley.  The stain of No Mas never left him but he moved beyond it and reclaimed his place.

In similar fashion, Mosley will always be tied to Balco but the Margarito win will bear a much higher position on his epitaph. 
 
For now, Margarito must wait and wrestle with what demons will come.  He will bear the slings and arrows, the accusations and presumptions.  He may continue on actively in Mexico during his suspension but it won’t be in the fights which matter.  One day there will be a fight that does; another intense public hearing

There will be no commissioners on that day.

The verdict will be rendered on canvas.

The Weekly Ledger

Beyond the Margarito news, there was also the retirement of Joe Calzaghe and its affect on the Pound for Pound ratings among other beats:

Cliff’s Notes…

There have been so many pull-outs on the road to Alfredo Angulo’s latest fight that the news reads more like someone trying to avoid getting pregnant…Check out Jake Donovan’s take this week on the real Lightweight final four and then read it again.  There’s no need for a tournament at Lightweight unless it seeks to select a challenger for whoever emerges from the four way run between Juan Manuel Marquez, Juan Diaz, Nate Campbell, and Ali Funeka…Why on Earth is former Flyweight champion Ponsaklek Wonjongkam being slated for an interim WBC title shot against anyone?  Did Daisuke Naito suffer a lasting injury?  Didn’t he just defend his title a couple months ago?...Less than one month until Watchmen for those who care.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com