By Lem Satterfield
WBA junior flyweight champion Giovanni Segura wants to make it clear, controversial trainer, Javier Capetillo, has never wrapped his hands. Last February Capetillo's training license was revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. They found him liable for an incident which took place prior to a fight in January 2009, where Capetillo was the head trainer for Antonio Margarito. Prior to that January fight, with Shane Mosley at Staples Center in Los Angeles, plaster-like inserts were discovered in the hand wrappings of Margarito.
During the February 2009 hearing with the California commission, Capetillo took the full weight of the blame and said that he placed the inserts in Margarito's wraps without the fighter's knowledge.
Eyebrows were raised on Sunday when Segura arrived to Puerto Rico with Capetillo as part of his team. Segura faces WBO champion Ivan Calderon in a unification bout on Saturday night. Calderon's trainer was vocal when he heard Capetillo was in the country with Segura. He issued statements directing the local commission to ensure Capetillo was banned from working Segura's corner, and to make sure that he played no role in the wrapping of his fighter's hands.
Segura says Arturo Mota, the son of his manager and trainer Richard Mota, is the one who handles the wrapping of the hands, and the hand wraps have never been handled by Capetillo.
"Actually, he has never wrapped my hands. The guy who wraps my hands is Arturo Mota. It's been that way throughout all of my career that he has wrapped my hands," said Segura. "About the hand wraps, it's always been Arturo Mota who has wrapped my hands. He's very good on doing it and I've never had a problem with it. I've felt good and I've felt confident, so why change it."
There won't be any trouble on fight night, says Richard Mota, because Capetillo will not be working the corner of Segura.
"Capetillo is Giovanni's conditioning trainer, but he can't be in the corner because he's not licensed," Mota said.
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
