By Robert Morales
So many boxers and trainers have given their respective opinions about whether Antonio Margarito knew his hands were loaded when he was busted with plaster inserts in his wraps prior to his fight with "Sugar" Shane Mosley in January 2009. Manny Pacquiao said during a news conference a while back announcing this fight that Margarito had to know.
Pacquiao reiterated his stance on HBO's first episode of 24/7 on Saturday.
Roach on Wednesday spoke candidly about the incident. First off, he said he agrees with Pacquiao that Margarito had to know his handwraps were doctored.
"You have a fu****g rock in your hand, you know it," Roach said.
Roach also said, "Against (Daniel) Santos and Paul Williams and so forth, he doesn't look like he's that big a puncher. Against (Kermit) Cintron and (Miguel) Cotto, something was different."
Finally, Roach said he has studied six or seven of Margarito's recent fights. He said he noticed something that really made him think Margarito may have had loaded wraps in some of them. For example:
"What is the first thing a fighter wants to do when he's done fighting?" Roach said. "Take off his gloves. He kept the gloves on the whole fu****g time."
And which fight was that? Roach was asked.
"The second Cintron fight."
In that one, Margarito knocked out Cintron in the sixth round in April 2008 in Atlantic City. In their first fight, in April 2005 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Margarito stopped Cintron in the fifth round.
