By Mark Vester
With Antonio Margarito's recent one-year suspension in California, and the likelihood of other states following their lead, Top Rank's Bob Arum is working on a plan to work around the ruling. During a Tuesday hearing before the California State Athletic Commission, Margarito and his trainer received one-year suspensions over an illegal substance that was found in Margarito's hand wraps prior to the January 24 bout with Shane Mosley.
The suspension killed Arum's already mapped out plan for a June 13 rematch with Miguel Cotto in New York's Madison Square Garden. Arum plans to wait and see if the other major states go along with the ruling of the CSAC. The Nevada Commission had already said they would follow the lead of California, and New York is almost sure to honor the ruling as well. Arum wants to bring Margarito back in Mexico, where several cities are calling for him to fight there.
"Margarito is going to fight in somewhere, in Mexico or another place. I have to see what the people of other states say. During the hearing they could never show that he did something bad or unjust," Arum said to El Nuevo Dia.
"I have to evaluate all of the options. It is not fair to remove the career of a boxer when they could not present evidence that he did something wrong. It is something completely unjust."
Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com
