By Mark Vester
The controversy involving Antonio Margarito is still making plenty of headlines in newspapers all over the world. About thirty-minutes before he entered the ring for last Saturday's fight with Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a block of hard gauze with a "plaster-like" substance was found in each of Margarito's hand wraps by an inspector for the California State Athletic Commission.
On Wednesday, the CSAC announced that Margarito and trainer Javier Capitello were temporarily suspended and ordered to attend a hearing on February 10. The CSAC is still investigating the exact nature of the "foreign substance" that was found in each hand wrap. Margarito and his team have proclaimed their innocence and look forward to clearing their names at the hearing.
Many in the sport are comparing this incident to the tragedy that took place on the June 16, 1983 undercard to Davey Moore-Roberto Duran, when Luis Resto, regarded as a light puncher, handed a ten-round beating to heavily favored Billy Collins Jr. at New York's Madison Square Garden. Collins' face was badly swollen and bruised. At the end of the bout, Collins' father and trainer, Billy Sr., noticed that Resto's gloves felt and looked thinner than normal. He alerted the New York State Athletic Commission and the gloves were taken away for a full commission investigation.
The investigation concluded that Resto's trainer, Panama Lewis, had removed an ounce of padding from each glove. Lewis was banned from boxing for life. Resto was suspended for a year, but never fought again. The fight was ruled a no-contest. In 1986, Lewis and Resto were and convicted of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon. Both served 2.5 years in prison for their roles in the fight. In 2007, Resto revealed that he soaked his wraps in plaster of Paris. The wraps were never take or investigated by the NYSAC.
Due to the damage he suffered in the fight, Collins suffered a torn iris and permanently blurred vision, which ended his boxing career. He fell in a deep depression, began drinking and on March 6, 1984 - he took his own life by driving his car off a cliff near his home in Antioch, Tennessee.
In a rare interview, Collins Sr. spoke to New York Newsday about the controversy with Margarito's wraps.
"Shane Mosley was a lot luckier than my son was," Collins Sr, now 71, said. "At least they found out before the fight. Before he got hit with anything. They say time heals all wounds. That's a big old lie."
Collins says that he first became suspicious of Margarito when he saw the damage he inflicted on the face of Miguel Cotto last July in Las Vegas.
"I knew Margarito was doing something ," Collins Sr. said. "Cotto was beat up worse than my son was. He was cut up all to pieces. You can't do that kind of damage with a glove."
Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Commission, told USA Today that it's almost a sure thing that Margarito's wraps were not altered for the fight with Cotto.
"We have an inspector back there. Not only does he watch the hand wraps being put on, but he inspects them, feels them and even signs them (to verify inspection). He inspects the gloves before and after," Kizer said.
Kermit Cintron, who fought Margarito twice, losing both fights by knockout, is keeping a close eye on the final verdict handed down on Margarito's wraps by the CSAC.
"It's something they have to investigate. If he tried to do it this time, nobody will ever know how many other times it was done. Whatever happened in my fight, has already been done. Right now I am trying to win my upcoming fight and regain a title. I am not going to look back, I am only going to look forward. If Margarito used something, God has already punished him," Cintron told El Nuevo Dia.
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