The criminal Luis Resto

Is Jeffrey Resto really related to him? I can't find it out anywhere, besides Boxrec.

It was also the first time he got CAUGHT cheating. He admitted to have done it in numerous past fights as well.

Wow... This dude really took the cake with cheating...Not only did he use plaster he also removed the padding in his gloves..

http://www.boxing-monthly.co.uk/content/0003/two.jpg your a clown.

http://www.boxing-monthly.co.uk/content/0003/two.jpg

When I turned pro, I just wanted to fight,” he said. “I didn’t think about money or winning championships.” Although he briefly cracked the Top 10, Resto lost to most of the world-class opponents he faced. He was a 10-round fighter by his seventh bout, and in his eighth start, he was KO’d in one round by future world champion Bruce Curry. There were some notable wins, including KOs of the heavily hyped Domingo Ayala and Robert Sawyer, and frequent sparring with Duran, but by the time of the Collins fight, the Puerto Rican, only 28, was already a journeyman. The records told you all you needed to know: Collins was 14-0, Resto 20-8-2. Though he could never have imagined it at the time, the punches Resto threw at Collins would be his last. Sixteen years after the fact, Resto still dreams of fighting again. Until recently, he sparred with the pros and amateurs at the gym, regardless of their weight. “He’d fight again in a minute,” said Joe DeGuardia Sr., a local businessman who employs Resto part-time as a security guard at his card store. “Lately, I’ve discouraged him from sparring with the better guys, like Aaron Davis, Monte Barrett, and Daren Zenner. Sometimes Luis gets very sad. He gets in moods. And it’s happening more now.” For the past four years, Resto has lived rent-free in the basement of the gym, which is owned by DeGuardia’s son, Joe Jr. (“I would trust him with the keys to my home,” said DeGuardia Sr. “Luis will be at my house on Thanksgiving. As long as I’m around, I’ll look after him.”) His room, which measures approximately 20 feet by 12 feet, isn’t big enough to house a large dog. Worse yet, the ceiling is only six-feet high. There is a small bed, a bicycle, a pair of dilapidated chairs, a refrigerator, and not much else. On a wall hangs the ESPN championship belt won by Resto in 1982. “I never lost it,” he told me with palpable pride. “They took it away from me.” Outside of the belt, the only adornments are an oversized Puerto Rican flag, yellowed newspaper photos of Resto’s ring triumphs, and pictures of his sons. “Sometimes I’m sorry I’m alone,” he said while gazing at the pictures. “I want to be with my two boys.” There is no bathroom. I presume Resto uses the gym toilet, which sits, exposed, at the foot of the stairs to the gym. Resto saves most of the money he earns working as a roofer (about $375 a week) and security guard ($90 a week). He jokes that when his sons visit, they reach for handouts before kissing him hello. No matter what I ask, however, the conversation comes back to boxing. Resto is in love with the fight game as much as he ever was. “I walk around at 165 pounds,” he said . “Give me two weeks and I could fight a six-rounder at junior middleweight.” His, dream, however, is a bit more conventional: “I only want to be with my family. The mother of Wilfredo Gomez’s nephew bought a house in Castle Hill . I’m gonna move there and take care of it.” A simple man, Resto doesn’t seem to be prone to introspection. When I asked him what made him happy, he said: “My sons . . . working . . . eating . . . sleeping . . . my mother.” What makes him sad, of course, is the loneliness. It’s when Resto is lying on the small bed in that jail cell of a room that he thinks about Billy Collins Jr. “Do you believe in God, Luis?” “Yes.” “Do you believe in heaven and hell?” “Yes.” “Which way will you be heading?” “I don’t know. I leave that to the guy upstairs.” The horror of Resto-Collins is symbolised by a black-and-white photo taken by The Ring the morning after the fight. It is a close-up of Collins’s face, which is grotesquely swollen. His hair is combed, but his eyes are badly discoloured and shut-perhaps not by choice. “Look at the photo again,” Resto said. “You see how he has a cut under his eye? There was no cut in the fight. And if Collins was blind, how come, when we rode in an elevator together at the commission, he was reading a boxing magazine? “You know, I was hurt, too. I had a black eye from the fight, but nobody said nothing about me. They only show me hitting him, never him hitting me.” As for the gloves, Resto contends they were switched some time between the end of the fight and four days later, when the holes were discovered at an upstate police laboratory. (After the fight, John Squeri, the New York commission’s chief inspector, took the gloves from Resto’s dressing room and placed them in a cardboard box. He then handed them over to Jack Prenderville, the chairman of the commission. According to a 1985 article in Inside Sports, Prenderville in turn gave the gloves to Jack Graham, another member of the commission, who inexplicably left them in the trunk of his car. The next day, Graham brought the gloves to Everlast for inspection. From there, the gloves made their way to the police lab.) “The gloves felt the same as always,” Resto said. “There were no holes. Before the fight Tony Perez felt the gloves and didn’t feel anything wrong. If the padding was out, when you hit somebody, you’d feel pain. You’d break your hands. My hands were fine. And if I knew the gloves had been tampered with, why would I have gone to Collins’s corner after the fight to congratulate him? That’s when the father said what he said. He’s lucky I didn’t hit him.” Let’s say the padding was indeed removed before the fight without Resto’s involvement or initial knowledge. Is it possible that he could have fought 10 rounds without sensing that something was different? “In the heat of a fight, your adrenaline is going, you’re focused,” reasoned Drath. “He was pumped up. I don’t think Luis is savvy enough to do something like that.” At the weigh-in for Grant-Golota, I spoke with Grant Elvis Phillips, who manages fighters and manufactures Grant boxing gloves. Coincidentally, Phillips worked the corner in some of Resto’s fights. On the night of the Collins bout, he was among those in the Garden crowd. “It’s very possible Resto wouldn’t know ,” Phillips said. “Everlast gloves at the time, there was a thin layer of foam, and the majority was horse hair. Only an ounce - he might not have known.” Jim Borzell, who runs the Morris Park gym, described Resto as “a good, hard worker and a humble, honest guy”. He believes Resto should be relicensed by the New York commission as a trainer. In fact, he’s lobbied on the former fighter’s behalf. “The punishment has been meted out,” Borzell said. “Nobody should be punished for life.” Nonetheless, he has his own take on Resto’s involvement. “I can’t possibly believe anybody wouldn’t know if padding was removed,” Borzell said. “Particularly someone with that experience. In my estimation, he had to have known. “Luis knows my ------------- on this. Hey, prison is full of guys who didn’t do it. It’s a shameful thing, of course, and I think he refuses to admit it. At the Puerto Rican Day Parade last year, people were screaming: ‘Hey, Luis, keep the padding in the gloves.’ That sent him into a depression. His downs are very low, and there’s no doubt in my mind that’s what it’s about. “Will he ever admit it? No. And that’s the part of him I don’t particularly care for.” In the tight and tiny world of professional boxing, there is an unofficial code of conduct. Fighters have murdered and raped and stolen, but boxing isn’t to blame for what happens on the outside. Luis Santana played dead after being fouled by Terry Norris and secured himself a six-figure payday. Mike Tyson bit off and spit out a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear, then bit him again, and has made about $30 million in two fights since. Those are pardonable offences. What Luis Resto and Panama Lewis did will forever be viewed as an unforgivable sin. When Jim Borzell considers Resto’s surroundings and says: “I’m not certain it’s a bad thing that a simple guy like Luis lives a simple life,” he’s simplifying Resto’s plight. If Resto was wrongly convicted, shame on all of us. If he was guilty, he’s never really been released from prison, has he? And those sad eyes tell you he knows he never will be.

Sixteen years later, Resto, 44, wearily waited for the inevitable line of questioning like a trialhorse waiting for a rising contender’s money punch. I hadn’t seen Resto since the Collins fight. In the tiny office at the Morris Park Boxing Gym in the Bronx, I told him I had watched most of his early fights, either live at the Felt Forum or on ESPN. We enjoyed shooting the bull about the good old days, but it was just prelim chatter. This interview wasn’t going to be that easy for either one of us. That’s because we both knew we had to talk about the gloves. Until reintroducing myself to the one-time fringe contender, the thought of Resto sickened me. After the featherfisted welterweight blinded Collins by hammering his face into a hideous mass of purple welts, it was discovered that padding had been removed from both of his gloves. Immediately after the final bell, Billy Collins Sr., who worked his son’s corner, shook Resto’s right glove, saying: “Good fight.” As reported in Sports Illustrated, the following was recorded by TV microphones: Collins: “Hey! All of the padding is out of the beep gloves. It’s all out.” Resto (looking across the ring to trainer-manager Panama Lewis for help): “Huh?” Collins: “Commissioner . . . Commissioner! No padding . . . There’s no beep padding.” Who did it? Who cut 3/4-inch holes on the lower palm side and removed an ounce of padding from each of the eight-ounce Everlast gloves? The record shows that in October 1986, Resto was convicted of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon (his fists). He served 21/2 years of a three-year sentence. Lewis was convicted of the same crimes, as well as tampering with a sports contest. He served 21/2 years of a six-year sentence. Both were banned from boxing for life. Billy Collins didn’t escape so easily. Hyped by Top Rank as a future champion, Collins had absorbed a frightful beating. Permanently blurred vision, the result of a torn iris, meant his career was over. Nine months after the fight, a drunken and depressed Collins drove his ’72 Oldsmobile off the road in Antioch, Tennessee. He landed in a creek and died upon impact. He was 22 years old. Depending on one’s perspective, Collins’s death was either a suicide, a result of drunk driving, or indirectly, murder. “You don’t think Resto knew he didn’t have padding in the gloves?” Collins Sr. told Sports Illustrated in 1998. “You don’t think Panama Lewis took it out? I’ve had 15 years to think about it, and I know - I know - that they did it. They killed him. They killed my son.” Eric Drath doesn’t see it that way. A boxing manager and former producer for CNN and Fox News, Drath, 29, befriended Resto while working out at the Morris Park gym. He’s since paid the former fighter for the rights to his story. “I found Luis instantly intriguing,” Drath said. “How could somebody with his character, somebody so devoted to boxing, be banished from the sport he loves so much? Everybody at the gym loves Luis. They respect the fact that he doesn’t walk around bitter. The first four years after Billy Collins died, Luis had to live with his demons. But he confronted those demons. You can see a rough past in his eyes, but he’s a warm, honest, sincere guy who’s always wearing a smile. “I want to give him what boxing owes him. He doesn’t owe boxing.” Spend five minutes with Resto and the last thing you’d take him to be would be duplicitous, much less conspiratorial. Resto is ruggedly handsome, with jet-black hair and dark skin, but also sad-looking. He’s quiet, and his English hasn’t improved much over the years. (Resto was born in a small town in Puerto Rico. He came to New York City with his mother and six siblings at age nine.) He remains married, but his wife Maria moved to Virginia in 1994. His sons, Luis Jr., 22, and Brian, 17, occasionally travel to the Bronx for weekends. “My son graduated from high school,” Resto said. “I’m proud of him. I didn’t do that.” In fact, Resto didn’t make it out of eighth grade. After smashing his teacher in the face with an elbow, he spent six months in a Bronx hospital for the mentally disturbed. Upon his release, he packed groceries until finding his way to a gym. Trainers found serious talent and a toughness that served him well. He won a pair of New York Golden Gloves titles and in 1976, competed in the Olympic Trials.

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: at you trying to make tito a criminal.

Fisher basically presented the facts straight from the horses mouth, as Don Felix dismissed the whole debacle for what it really was as the trainer explained in detail the obvious intent of his wrapping technique being that of protecting the boxer's bread and butter if you will. I urge you to read Fischer's article as well which is granted, not as entertaining as Kim's but obviously far more trustworthy a source in my estimation. I did find however, one very important oversight by the sites' chief. Shortly after Kim's story posted it appears Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic commission, Marc Ratner, in direct response to the article, did not hesitate to discard the whole matter as being less than unmerited. A gesture I thought to be far more revealing and appropriate then even that of Don Felix. But that's just me. Ratner, having been the man in charge of keeping things on the 'up and up' on numerous occasions for Tito's bout in Vegas, went on to comment that to his recollection, he never saw any reason to question Team Trinidads' means of preparing their boxer to fight. These being in essence the words used by the commissioner as he addressed the matter. The statements included Tito's bouts with Oscar de La Hoya, Reid, Vargas etc. He (Ratner) also pointed out that in each one of those bouts there was always someone of the opposing camp; as well as an assigned representative of the commission present, to witness first hand, the wrapping process from beginning to end. Heck, even trainer and father figure to David Reid, Al Mitchell having been present in Tito's dressing room while they wrapped his hands did not pick up on any of this, even with his trained eye as a trainer. I guess Mitchell did not care as much about David as Don Felix does his son is the implication. Or maybe Mitchell needs to take a refresher course on one of the more basic aspects of his craft as a trainer. What does this say of the dozens of corner men and state commission appointed officials present in all the other bouts Tito participated in? Is Kim inferring that every last one of them was completely oblivious of the goings on? According to Ratner, never once was there any reason to question the Puerto Rican trainer's methods. The process presented by Don Felix met the governing body's rules and regulations each and every time. Even veteran trainer and Boxing analyst Teddy Atlas made light of the whole thing focusing more on Team Hopkins having got the upper hand psychologically by offsetting, what to Trinidad had always been the customary wrap used for his fights. The no holds barred commentator opting not to touch on the subject, which obviously holds about as much water as a screen door on a submarine. For the most part, all the other publications have had a similar reaction to the whole allegation made by Kim by choosing to just ignore it for it's lack of substance. To further add irony to the matter, earlier in the year Dr. Margaret Goodman who has assumed the role of ringside physician for years now, spear headed the task of publishing a manual, which would serve to protect boxers from the obvious hazards of the sport. Goodman elected to quote and use the savvy Don Felix' input and technique in regards to --yes you guessed it-- the importance of protecting the athletes' hand by way of properly wrapping them. The irony of this last fact almost being poetic and hard for me to refrain from, but instead, we'll move on shall we. Perhaps it was the element of conspiracy that gripped you about Kim's story, then let's set our sights towards the officials responsible for correcting the "infamous" hand wrapping act that night of September 29th, prompted by the Hopkins Camp. Now ex- president and lame duck official of The New York State Athletic Commission Mel Southard, for reason that have yet to be addressed, was for some odd reason the acting representative of the commission and the man responsible for carrying out the threat to withhold Trinidad's purse if he did not oblige them in making Tito re-bandage his hands. Is it just me, or is this but another convenient oversight on Kim's part, who has himself questioned the reputation of this particular Commission and its subordinates, if recent memory serves me correctly. I guess it was ok and not the least bit suspicious for Southard, whose ethics have come under severe attack from everyone imaginable, to execute the Commissions reprimand of the Trinidad's. But that's another story. We could go on and on, but the bottom line simply being this, anyway you slice it, Kim's article is at best irresponsible, at worst hypercritical. How this stuff ever even makes it to print is probably the bigger question here. I will leave you with the quandary. -- indulge me on this if you will-- what if the outcome of the fight would have gone the other way? Given Kim's reaction even in lap of being right about Hopkins victory over Trinidad, one is left to shudder and think, to what length would the writer have gone to prove his point when reality and fantasy so conveniently intertwine for Mr. Kim. ********************** **Editor's Note: Bragging Rights Corner wishes to thank sister site Tainobox.com and its highly talented staff for their support and encouragement. This superb piece has been reproduced with their permission.

"Kim" You Believe This Guy? By Kevin Aymat, Editor, Tainobox.com OK, so it's not the catchiest title out there, but I've obviously got your attention. Besides, cut me some slack here, no one said anything about Steve Kim's 'Cheat-o' Trinidad eye-catcher on MaxBoxing.com last week. If you missed Kim's latest brain fart of a 'news' column by the same title, don't sweat it, he'll have another one for ya before you can say bean burrito. It was indeed a toss up between Max Kellerman's editorial piece entitled Tszyu's overrated, so go with Zab humdinger, over Kim's equally asinine jewel. As tough a choice as it was, I allowed my obligation to all those who took the time to email us last week about the hand wrapping piece to sway me. However, hats off to Max, yours was no less a gem in its own right. The essence behind Kim's article was that of shedding light on some infamous hand wrapping technique used by the 'Puerto Rican underground' to grant their boxers a punchers' edge. A ploy that was 'astutely' caught by the Hopkins camp, prior to Trinidad entering the ring on the 29th last month. Thus, exposing not only Team Trinidad as being a cheat and a farce, but the whole Puerto Rican boxing institution was inconspicuously thrown in the mix as well. If you think I'm being melodramatic, and you have a couple of minutes to lose, don't take my word for it, read the article if you haven't already. Honestly folks, if it were not for the fact that the columnist writes for the top cyber-dog in Boxing, there probably wouldn't be any need to even address the subject, but I got a few minutes to kill, and again, judging from the emails received by TB this past week, Kim obviously struck a cord with some of you, so we'll play along with Steve on your behalf. The column showcases former opponents of the Puerto Rican Trinidad (Reid, Vargas and Joppy), as they are given open forum to digress into one of the more pathetic displays of grown men wining about how they were slighted by the artificially induced cast iron fist of Trinidad. Each of which (with the exception of Joppy) have gone on to struggle with their chins and stamina due to the after shock of Tito's 'unjust' devastation of their egos, explains Kim as the story develops. It came as a surprise to me that Steve didn't take a step further by also insinuating that Team Trinidad covertly acted as accomplices to Wilfredo Rivera, by wrapping the light punching former welter weight's hands for his bout with Vargas given that Wilfredo is also from Puerto Rico. Rivera you may recall, floored the rebounding Jr. middleweight Fernando Vargas a few months after his bout with Tito, only to pull back from the kill allowing the younger Vargas to turn the tide on him shortly thereafter. If you note some cynicism on my part towards Mr. Kim it's only because the columnist continually abuses the medium of reporting the news when in fact he is just writing an editorial piece . 'Cheat-o' Trinidad is a perfect example of the reporter not being able to make the distinction or even worse, deliberately presenting it as fact knowing that it is nothing more than a full blown commentary piece masked to look like journalism. But for more on that, I would encourage you to read Sugarfree Shaw's article and the obvious differences of the two mediums and how Kim in particular has a problem distinguishing them. As do all reputable publications, MaxBoxing.com has its obvious anchor to reality by way of its editor and chief Doug Fisher. Having once again been left to clean up after his 'shoot from the hip' peer, Fisher posted an almost immediate counter article relating Trinidad Senior's response to the rumors generated by Kim's article, as they were presented to Don Felix back in Puerto Rico.

and more tito hating Come on, Steve. Trinidad had 37 other opponents to pick from. Choosing the three who suffered notable knockouts for this piece is clearly poor thinking on your part. Where is De La Hoya? Where is Whitaker? Wasn't Oba Carr around somewhere? Mamadou Thiam? Maurice Blocker, for Pete's sake? My point is this: If you're set on including these three guys in the piece, at least ask them something harder, like "Why we haven't heard these accusations from you until now?" Ask them for evidence; ask them for something, anything, to substantiate what we got. Shining through these interviews is the underlying impression that these guys are sore losers given a convenient opportunity to lash out and offer an excuse. An internationally published one, at that. For a great example of what I'm talking about, take a look at this excerpt from your story: "Somebody came up to me at the press conference in Puerto Rico," stated Vargas. "He was Puerto Rican and I don't know who he is, but I've seen him around many fights, he's affiliated with boxing. I don't know if he's a trainer, manager, whatever he might be. He said, 'Look, I'm Puerto Rican, but I don't like Trinidad's people. I'm gonna tell you guys, you better watch out for the way he wraps.'" Huh?!?!? No offense, Steve, but I've seen stronger scoops at the local Baskin-Robbins. When I hear a Champion has been accused of wrongdoing, I want the hard details, not "my friend's sister's boyfriend knows this guy who works with this chick who knows a lot about boxing, and her Dad's mechanic told him that Tito doesn't fight clean." Not very convincing. Not very credible. I'll take "Logical Conclusions" for $1,000, please: If you absolutely must make a jump to a conclusion (and in case I haven't stated this previously, a reporter of the facts shouldn't), at least make sure it's reasonable. That's really the only requirement I'll ask of you. Don't get me wrong, Steve. I see you working here. I see how you've extensively interviewed James Fisher, and I can appreciate that. He was there, and that speaks well of you. But when you look at his interview, you still make an overall point that is entirely conjecture. Let's look at Fisher's version of the facts: Fisher walks into the dressing room, where Trinidad's left hand was already wrapped. Fisher talks with the Inspector, in his words "a Puerto Rican guy," who tells him the wraps are regulation. An argument ensues. A superior inspector comes in and gets the Trinidad camp to take the wraps off. They re-wrap again, the same way. An argument ensues. The supervising inspector tells the Hopkins camp they can wrap Bernard's hands in similar fashion, if they choose. They decline. Trinidad's hands get re-wrapped again. After removing all your persuasive phrasing, this is what Fisher's account boils down to. It may be enough to justify saying that the Trinidad camp needed to re-wrap to satisfy the Chief inspector on that night, but it is hardly enough to justify the stance you seem to be taking. Imagine, Steve, the ramifications of what you're suggesting. If you are correct, and Trinidad's complete record is due to illegal hand wraps, that casts aspersions on the entire sport. Trinidad has fought 40 opposing camps in 14 separate cities and 5 countries. How is it possible that this is just coming out? Are we to believe they were all incompetent? All on the take? Are we to assume that the Trinidad camp is so far-reaching that they can plant inspectors in every venue? If so, what are you saying about the Athletic Commissions therein? Are they all involved in some grand coup to ensure undefeated status for a Puerto Rican boxer? It hardly seems likely, Steve. And if I were a representative of any one of these groups, I'd be incensed at your insinuation. But, back to a final point about report writing: Word choice. Steve, the words you use convey more than their own meaning; they reveal the intent of the writer. Taking a look at your word choice tells me that you have a lot of personal bias on the subject, and you want me to take it as fact. "It's like finding out that Babe Ruth had corked his bat," you begin. Curious. If nothing's been established yet, why are we stating it like its fact? How about, "It would be like finding out?" I know it's not as inflammatory, but it's a tad less biased. While we're at it, you might try to describe the opinions of angry boxers as "allegations" instead of "findings," and refer to Trinidad's hand wrapping process as a "technique" rather than a "shenanigan." Also, you mention that the Joppy camp "didn't catch the infraction," in their fight, which tells me that you believe there was an infraction to catch. I'd love to play poker with you sometime, Steve; you can't keep from showing your hand. To sum up, Steve, I'd like to thank you for your passionate writing and for your creativity. In the future, though, I'd appreciate it if you'd just call a piece like "Cheat-O Trinidad" an editorial of your personal beliefs. If you've got something to say or a cause to champion, just say it. Don't hide behind a barrage of fighters and trainers who've lost, and let them offer your view for you. To do so is an abuse of your position as a writer for www.maxboxing. com. After all, people (myself included) come there for news and coverage, not propaganda. Incidentally, I saw that your maxboxing.com colleague Doug Fischer posted an interview with Felix Trinidad, Sr. on October 30th. He did the unthinkable; he let us see Trinidad's take on this situation. Shouldn't that have been in the original piece? I guess it didn't quite fit your purpose. Be sure to read TB Editor Kevin Aymat's article "Kim" You Believe This Guy? Responses or Comments? Email Sugarfree Click here to visit Tainobox web site. ********************** **Editor's Note: Bragging Rights Corner wishes to thank sister site Tainobox.com and its highly talented staff for their support and encouragement. This outstanding piece has been reproduced with their permission.

some more tito hating http://www.braggingrightscorner.com/Sugar1.html "Just the Facts, Steve" By Sugarfree Shaw Let me preface this edition of the 'Corner' with a couple of definitions, just to be sure we're all starting from equal ground. EDITORIAL (noun): a newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of the editors or publishers; also : an expression of opinion that resembles such an article JOURNALISM (noun): writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation Steve? Steve Kim? Are you out there, Steve? I mention your name because of your October 29th www.maxboxing.com article entitled "Cheat-o Trinidad?" I know I don't need to remind you, but for the benefit of everyone who hasn't seen it, I'll restate your point. You speculate that special hand wrapping techniques may have contributed to Felix Trinidad's 40-0 record, and that Trinidad's loss to Bernard Hopkins is a direct result of a change in that wrapping. There are all sorts of other indictments of Trinidad, Puerto Ricans in general, and the New York State Athletic Commission on the side, but I think that about covers it. I'll provide a link to the article for everyone later. I'll encourage them all to check it out. It's actually quite stirring. You write with passion, Mr. Kim. You make your points. Unfortunately, Journalism isn't solely for making your points. What happened to fact and unbiased observation? What happened to credible sources? What happened to logic? You see Steve, as I've stated above, there's a difference between journalism and editorial writing. "Cheat-o," doesn't seem to know which it wants to be. It abounds in obvious personal opinion and bias, but is presented as a journalistic report. Since you seem to have some confusion on this issue, let me take you briefly back to school. Let's assume we're talking about a report, here. In this instance, you would devise a topic for a story, do some research, and present the facts, right? Good, I'm glad we can agree on that. Here are a few more specific essentials you'd probably want to include: Interviews from opposing sides: The old adage goes, "There are two sides to every story." As a general rule, people want to see interviews from those who are -- and this is very important -- direct representatives of the parties involved. I see you've done half of that job very well. I appreciate the comments from people Trinidad has knocked out, especially the very vocal and opinionated views of William Joppy and Fernando Vargas. I also thank you for including the interview with James Fisher, who was in the locker room during the taping incident before the Trinidad/Hopkins fight. Thanks for showing me that side of things. Let me ask, if I may; was there anyone from the Trinidad camp available for comment before you decided to present these accusations to the masses? If you're a journalist whose report questions the integrity of a former World Champion and his family, why aren't they represented? Thanks very much for throwing in Teddy Atlas' explanation of how to turn your tape job into a hard cast, and (David Reid's trainer) Al Mitchell's admission that he didn't see anything wrong with the hand wraps, but that's not exactly the same as asking the person you're accusing for their version of the story, is it? The way you so heavily rely on Trinidad-bashers makes me think you keep a few of them on speed dial. In short: Stories have two sides. Try to include them both, if it's not too much trouble. Credible vs. Non-Credible Interviews: Again, thanks so much for your interviews with the ever-entertaining William Joppy, Fernando Vargas, and David Reid. I'm so glad you brought their testimonies to the page. And what an opportunity this is for them to break this story wide open. Those must have been tough interviews. What did you ask them? Was it something like, "Did you get knocked out because you got beaten, or was it because your opponent had 'loaded' gloves?" It's your story, I know, but I might have suggested interviewing fighters who weren't completely embarrassed in their meetings with Trinidad. You see, when someone clearly has a vested interest in seeing the subject of the accusations brought down, their testimony loses what we like to call "credibility."

UNFORGIVEN Following the infamous "stuffing-removed-from-gloves" fight that brought an end to the career and, possibly indirectly, the life of Billy Collins, Luis Resto has become a boxing pariah. STEVE FARHOOD catches up with a man still in love with a sport that hates him -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RESTO TODAY: a man in love with a sport that doesn't want him - Get Big Pic The most memorable night of my boxing life was a giant birthday party. On 16 June 1983, Madison Square Garden was sold out for Roberto Duran’s challenge to junior middleweight champion Davey Moore. It wasn’t the greatest fight, mind you, but what a night! Just not for all the right reasons. The rafters of the Big Building rattled when Muhammad Ali made his way to ringside before the main event; the deafening chant of “Ah-Lee!” provided the ultimate adrenaline rush. As for Duran, such was the magnetism of the man that Moore, an ever-smiling kid from the Bronx, was booed in his own hometown. After Duran, reborn at 32, masterfully managed an upset KO win, he climbed the ring ropes and shed tears as the crowd sang “Happy Birthday”. He wasn’t the only one crying. Luis Resto doesn’t remember that night too well. After beating up the previously undefeated Billy Collins on the undercard, Resto celebrated by getting drunk at Victor’s Café, a Cuban joint in Midtown Manhattan. “Beer, rum, wine, everything,” Resto recalled. “I was so happy. I drank so much, I forgot to eat.” Resto went to sleep dreaming about a shot at welterweight king Donald Curry. When he woke up, a hangover was the least of his problems.

On September 29, 2001 before the fight between Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad, team Hopkins sent a representative from their team to over-see Tito's hands being wrapped. When their representative arrived he was shocked to see that Tito's left hand was already wrapped, signed off and the boxing glove was on. In an exclusive interview Bernard Hopkins (said), "I sent my team in there to watch Trinidad wrap his hands and when they got there Trinidad's left hand was already wrapped and he had his boxing glove on. So my trainer, Bouie Fisher who has been doing this stuff for a long time went over there to straighten it up. The thing is Trinidad has been getting away with doing this for a long time. I know for a fact that he has done it at least one other fight. They are used to being able to do whatever they want and get away with it. That is how it is in boxing." First of all, you have to wonder who this commissioner was that let Don Felix wrap Tito's hand without anyone from the Hopkins camp being there. Hopkins said, "not only did he let him wrap the hands without us being there, but he was in there joking and laughing and talking Spanish with the Trinidads like they were best friends. When Bouie told them that he would have to take it off and rewrap it in front of someone fron their camp, he said "NO," its already wrapped and it's too close to time for the fight to start. Bouie had to go to the head commissioner before they were made to rewrap his hands." Luckily for Hopkins, Bouie Fisher is old school and he was not going to let this fight go on with Tito having wrapped his left hand and nobody from his camp watching it. "Bouie kept telling them, either we do this by the book or we don't do it all," said Hopkins. It didn't make since to Fisher why the Trinidad's were so insistent on not rewrapping the hand because obviously they knew the rules. They have been in enough of these big fights to know that a representative from the other camp is allowed to be in the room while they are wrapping Tito's hand. Even if the New York Commission's Representative didn't know any better, the Trinidads definitely did. The Trinidads went so far as to actually say, "If we have to rewrap Tito's hand then there will be no fight." Why was this left hand wrapping so important to the Trinidads? Finally, after the head commissioner became involved the Trinidads were told to either rewrap the left hand or the fight was off. After much argument, they finally agreed to rewrap the hand with a member from the Hopkins team present. Tito was made to remove his glove and the prior wrapping in front of Hopkins representative Naazim Richardson who noticed that the wrap looked very thick and when he felt it he says it was as hard as a rock. All the sudden it became very clear why they had tried to get away with wrapping the left hand without anyone from the Hopkins camp watching and also why they didn't want to remove it and rewrap the hand. Don Felix began to rewrap the hand again, but Richardson noticed that Don Felix was putting layers of tape and then gauze, tape and then gauze, tape and then gauze which is not in accordance with NYSAC rules. The rules stipulate tape cannot be applied directly over the knuckles, and that repeating the process several times (is not permitted). In an interview with Bernard Fernandez of Philly.com, Hopkins said, "If you put on tape, then gauze, then tape, then gauze, it's like a cast. It's like being hit with a baseball bat. I'm giving out some secrets here, but you can dip your hands in ice water and that tape will, like, marinate and become harder. But it's only cheating if you get caught. Personally, I think Vargas' and Reid's people dropped the ball. Naazim did a brilliant job in spotting what was doing with the wraps." Don Felix was also putting tape on the skin and over the knuckles, both of which are not in accordance with NYSAC rules. New York's head commissioner put his foot down and made Don Felix wrap in strict accordance to the rules. Don Felix has insisted in several interviews that, "I have always wrapped Tito's hands this way and nobody else has ever said anything."

On that note, here is Aladdin Freeman's closing statement: I think when you come out with a story like Mr. Kim did, you must put a lot of thought into what you are writing because accusing Trinidad's people of doing something illegal when there isn't really any uniform rule about hand wrapping isn't fair to the fighter or his people. It is also a great disservice to Trinidad and everyone he's fought along the way, trying to tarnish his forty straight wins by saying he's been cheating this whole time. I've now heard three different accounts of what happened. First was Bernard Hopkins, who was lead to believe that all Trinidad had was tape on his hands, Hopkins told me this first hand (no pun intended). The next thing I heard was that Trinidad used layers and layers of tape and gauze on his hands and finally I read and heard Tito used a foam around his knuckles. Furthermore, in trying to discredit Trinidad and his handlers Mr. Kim only interviewed three of his last four opponents, all of which gave Tito his props after the fight was over, then after this issue came up, decided to join in and come out with their own "allegations". Why 'weren't Mamadou Thiam, Oscar De La Hoya, Pernell Whitaker and Hugo Pineda questioned? Was it because all except Pineda finished on their feet? If a fighter is in forty fights, more than half championship fights where the supervision is more severe, don't you think if the guy is cheating or loading his hands, that he'd have been caught by now? My last question is, almost after every fight Trinidad is the first guy to take his gloves off, but keeps his tape on. If he and his father were trying to cheat don't you think he'd cut the tape and everything off? hold that..

Every fighter and every Commissioner should know exactly how much gauze, how much tape and how a hand should be wrapped. So, when you deviate from that, you complain about it, the biggest problem that most people have with the Hispanic wrap and even Europeans is that they use excessive amounts of tape to secure the hand and make it like a cast. So, the rule of thumb is that in my camp I do have one of my people observe, even though the Commissioner is there...I'm not saying that he doesn't know his job, but I rather have one of my people there also. BRC: Let me run this scenario by you. Our feature correspondent, Aladdin Freeman, interviewed Bernard Hopkins shortly after his resounding victory over Trinidad. Hopkins said and this is a direct quote: "Trinidad had only skin and then tape on his hands, no gauze, and it also looked like he was wearing casts..." AM: State of Florida Rules and Regulations state that 105-154 pounds can use 10 yds of gauze; they don't care how they put it on the hands, anything over 154 pounds can use 12 yds of gauze, they don't care how you put it on. When you get to the tape this State allows you to use 8 foot of tape, and that is not very much; one roll of tape is ten yards, usually a person can wrap with 3/4 to 1 roll of tape, and there is nothing said and no tape over the knuckles, you have to be an inch behind the back of the knuckles. The only tape you can use and gauze you can use that is affiliated with the knuckles is going between them, and that is just to secure the tape so it won't peel back. That's cut and dry, and those are the rules and regulations. BRC: In your opinion, would the amount of gauze and or tape used in a legal way, as you have stated it to me... AM: (Jumping right in...) I don't think it would add any more force to the blow, I think it is a safety precaution for the person's hands, to keep them from injuring their hands. I don't have any problem with it as a trainer. 7. - Jeff Mayweather Basically, for the most part, the first thing I do is make a pad to protect the knuckles, because that is where most of the impact is going to come from. When you hit another fighter, the knuckles is where the force is going to come from. So, I make a large pad for my fighters with gauze and after that I use a total of five gauze, two for the wrap and one for the padding which is very important to protect the fighter's hands and then I use a large amount of tape that I wrap the boxer's hands with the tape after the wrap is done, you know, make sure that their hands feel secure, not too tight and then I make strips of tape, not to build a cast, that's probably what they are talking about in reference to Tito Trinidad because each trainer has a specific amount of tape that they like to use. But actually, I don't feel that wrapping a hand can dictate the impact of a punch. The fighter can punch or the fighter can't punch. All the tape does is protect the fighter's hands, it doesn't make the fighter a better puncher, and in that sense I don't feel...only thing you can do is if you put metal or if you do something like what Panama Lewis did, with the padding of the gloves, that's something totally different. But we are talking about when you wrap a guy's hand the commission should be there to mandate the amount of tape you are going to wrap around the hand. The tape is there basically to protect the fighter's hands. Once you use the gauze and once you start taping, there is no longer any gauze. BRC: Does each camp get same exact amount of gauze and tape? JM: That, in that sense is not really true because each trainer, while they have a standard by which you are only allowed to use so much gauze, each trainer has his own amount of gauze that he brings in and of course some can get away with using more, some can get away with using less. Some fighters like using even less, and the trainer himself has to bring the gauze, not necessarily the commissioner or the state. In that sense u have a little independence to use it freely, but the one thing that is true in every state is that there is an appointed representative from the commission of that state, to watch, to watch as the hands are being wrapped. BRC: In your experience, both as a fighter and now as a trainer, your years in boxing, have you ever felt that you could not trust the person appointed by the commission to observe the wrapping of the opponent's hands? Have you ever felt uncomfortable in any sense with that? JM: In my own experience, no. I feel that the only thing you can really do is if you take the padding out of the gloves, or you could use excessive amounts of tape, but there are rules and regulations that stipulate that you can only use one roll of tape. Of course, some of the Commission's people are a bit more lenient because it is for the protection of the fighter, but they know when...I mean, a lot of the Commission's people are ex-fighters, they might be a little bit lenient but they won't allow anyone to go berserk with the amount of tape that they are using. And plus, you can't even really protect the knuckles, only way you can protect the knuckles is with padding, you can't tape the knuckles. BRC: Based on what you have explained to me, is it a fair statement to say that a bit more gauze, a bit less gauze, it's not going to affect the impact of the punch? JM: That's pretty much right. The gauze has nothing to do with it, like I said the gauze is basically there to protect the fighters. Some fighters don't like too much gauze, they like to feel they can almost feel their hands when they hit a person. Some fighters are like that, they don't care about gauze. Gauze is to protect the hands, the only thing that changes anything is the amount of tape that you use, that may help the impact a little bit but at the same time, you are only protecting the fighters hands, it doesn't make you a better puncher. BRC: If one of your fighters got knocked out badly and came to you and said, wow! I had never been hit like that before, that guy punches funny. Would your immediate response be that the opponent's gloves were loaded? JM: No, I would probably say you have never been in there with a guy that punches that hard. One thing is that Felix Trinidad is a proven puncher, I mean he has proven that throughout his whole entire career, as a welterweight, at 154...Maybe these guys have never been in with a guy that punches like Trinidad on a consistent basis, and that is my honest feeling. I don't think the hands wrap would have made any difference in the Hopkins fight, Hopkins had his number that night. I think Trinidad is a devastating puncher no matter what kind of wrap he's got on. BRC: I have one last question for you... You were a fighter, you are now a trainer, you come from a family of good fighters...Do you feel that it's fair to write an article questioning a guy's integrity, the accomplishments of his career, questioning the commissions that he has fought under based on the comments of three guys that got knocked out by this one person? JM: If those guys would have won, you would have no excuses. Excuses come from losers. I don't care how you win, even if you don't win and you win, as is the case sometimes, you hear no complaints. So when a guy loses he has to find excuses, you know, like how did this guy beat me, or how did this guy devastated me, or whatever the case might be. Trinidad had no excuses, he just lost to Bernard and he took it like a man. Like I said, losers have excuses, winners don't.

Let me tell you something, these people have no ground to stand on. You have a hard punching Puerto Rican that can hit like hell, and they just hate the fact that he can punch like that. I use all the gauze I have on the hand, to make my fighter the best fist, the hardest fist that I can make, and yes, I am trying to make it as hard as I can, because we are allowed to do that. After wrapping his hands, I take the tape, I do the wrist and part of the hand area, I do not go across the knuckles, no trainer does, you are not allowed to do that, that is against the law. We are given a certain amount of gauze to wrap our guys' hands. What I do is I start up at the wrist area and I come down, I put as much as I possibly can across the fist area, so he doesn't damage his hands, because we are hitting with his knuckles, so therefore I'm allowed to take one gauze and wrap it the way I want to and put that across his knuckles, I do that with all my fighters and have done that for years. I use tape that I put between the fingers but I do not put tape across the gauze, you gotta have it at least an inch behind the knuckles. You have tape that goes between the fingers, which has nothing to do with trying to make "a cast", it does not make a cast. Some guys go: Oh, man! Jesus Christ, I love the way that hand is wrapped it looks like you can knock down a wall... Yes, you can, because it's wrapped properly. The problem with trainers today, they don't protect their fighters' hands, I do, I do it in every fight, and most good trainers do. This thing about Felix Trinidad having his hands wrapped wrong or improperly is a FLAT OUT LIE. You have inspectors in the dressing room, we have to trust those people because they are professionals and anyone who says anything different is stupid. 4.- Referee Jorge Alonso BRC: As a referee I know that you check some of the equipment the boxer wears, do you also check the gloves to see if they are irregular in any way? JA: We check the gloves, we feel the gloves, but remember when we get the boxer in the ring, he already has his gloves on. In Florida, they have inspectors that supervise the wrapping and approve of the wrapping. What I feel for, when I feel the gloves is to make sure that first of all, the knot is in the back part of the hand, right underneath, where there is no rub, no big knots when they tie the gloves and that the tape covers the knot itself and the tie. I also check that the impact area of the glove is in good condition, that it doesn't have any soft spots where you can't feel the knuckles. In the past, I have eliminated gloves for having been used before, they were very soft and you can feel the boxer's knuckles with your finger; in those cases you don't let those gloves go on to the fight. As far as the wrap itself, we don't actually see it. In Florida we have inspectors that handle that. BRC: When you refereed Trinidad vs. Thiam, and based on your many years of experience, did you see, did you detect anything, anything at all that now -looking back on it and based on the grave accusations that have been made- did you detect anything that may now seem irregular to you? JA: No, looking back, I don't see anything irregular. I checked the gloves, in the ring, and I didn't notice any irregularities as to the way the gloves felt when I checked them, they were tied properly. I didn't see anything improper with the gloves, however I don't know about the hands wrap, but I have a tremendous confidence in the inspectors in Florida. We probably have one of the most experienced team of inspectors in Florida and I say that with a lot of pride. I seriously doubt that they would allow any improprieties as to wrappings in a fight in the state of Florida; and specially the guys here in South Florida they are very, very experienced inspectors. 5. - Marc Ratner Felix Tito Trinidad has fought here several times against some of the biggest fighters in the world: Oscar de la Hoya, David Reid, Fernando Vargas. He's always had opponent's corner people watching him wrap, as well as my inspectors. We have never detected anything illegal. 6. - Alton Merkerson First of all, the most important thing when wrapping hands is to protect three areas of the hand: back of the hand, the wrist and the thumb. The knuckles you put pad over to protect, so you won't have direct contact. My philosophy is in reference to the tape, in reference to the Commissioner, they give you a certain amount of gauze, some people say ten yards, twelve yards, even up to fifteen yards, and most people say eight feet of tape, one inch tape, as long as it's not going across the knuckles. Personally I don't feel that all the gauze and tape in the world you can use can add force to your blow, what it really does is protect your hands as long as you don't have tape over the top of your knuckles, but that is a rule by all Commissions all over the world, that you don't put tape over the knuckles. Most Europeans and Hispanics for some reason do not put as much gauze on the hands as most Americans do and they use excessive amount of tape, and it really makes it like a cast and what people are saying that the gloves, that the hand wraps are loaded is because it's so much tape, it actually feels like a cast. So that won't allow any of your bones in your hands to move; any big puncher would like his hands wrap that way, and it's safety for them, but most people think it adds more power to the blow, IT DOESN'T, but it gives you confidence and you feel better about throwing a punch as hard as you can with your hands wrapped like that because you have less chance of injuring your hand. BRC: Based on your vast experience, have you ever felt uncomfortable about the officials appointed by the Boxing Commissioners, the officials that are responsible for watching the trainers wrap their fighters' hands? Have you ever felt that irregularities have taken place? AM: I feel comfortable with them but I do like one of my representatives to be present, because you don't know you might, in a world championship fight, you know boxing is corrupt, you don't know who favors who or who is biased and they might let them get away with something. So, that's the reason why you want to have a representative from your camp in that other person's locker room when they wrap hands.

In an interview with Bernard Fernandez of Philly.com, Hopkins said, "If you put on tape, then gauze, then tape, then gauze, it's like a cast. It's like being hit with a baseball bat. I'm giving out some secrets here, but you can dip your hands in ice water and that tape will, like, marinate and become harder. But it's only cheating if you get caught. Personally, I think Vargas' and Reid's people dropped the ball. Naazim did a brilliant job in spotting what was doing with the wraps." Don Felix was also putting tape on the skin and over the knuckles, both of which are not in accordance with NYSAC rules. New York's head commissioner put his foot down and made Don Felix wrap in strict accordance to the rules. Don Felix has insisted in several interviews that, "I have always wrapped Tito's hands this way and nobody else has ever said anything." we get it your a fagg3t. http://www.braggingrightscorner.com/hands.html open letter to steve kim Your October 29th, 2001 article "Cheat-To Trinidad" is malicious and irresponsible; it ranks right up there with the cheapest supermarket tabloids, the ones that use sensationalism and misconceptions to sell issues, regardless of who they vilify. I must confess that I am aghast as to how you have been able to get away with this piece, unbalanced and irresponsible as it is. You took the words of the three guys who Félix Trinidad beat the worst, and used them to cast a heavy shadow on Trinidad's career, his accomplishments, his pugilistic integrity. In reality, you have done the same for his father, and for every Commission and every inspector they have ever fought under, but more on that in a minute. Your article states that William Joppy has a strong opinion about "all this", whatever all this is, because there is no proof or evidence of any impropriety on the part of the Trinidad camp. You obviously conducted some sort of interview -or shall we call it a witch hunt- with Joppy, in which he assumes that the reason why he looked like a rubber band man on May 12th, 2001, at the Garden, is because Tito's gloves were "loaded". You continued the public lynching in cohoots with Fernando Vargas, who based solely on what James Fisher said proceeded to malign his handlers, his own camp; and goes on to justify his starching with a cloak and dagger story, without the benefit of names, dates, or anything specific, solely hear say. As for David Reid, well, let's just look at his last fight and leave it at that. I feel that as a responsible journalist you should have gotten both sides of this story, because as you might know, Trinidad didn't demolish all his opponents in the same manner he did Reid, Vargas and Joppy. So, what is the explanation there? The "loaded" gloves were only "loaded" on certain days and only against certain opponents? How illogical and foolish is the concept? One of your readers e-mailed you, condemning your atrocious article, and your answer to him was even worst than the article. Your response to this reader was, and I am quoting: THANK GOD YOU ARE A NOBODY! Well, this person contacted me quite upset at the way you had responded, and asked if we could help him set the record straight. So, Mr. Kim, on behalf of Taino34652, who is very much SOMEBODY in our book, my feature correspondent Aladdin Freeman and I set out to seek answers, and a better understanding on how a boxer's hands are wrapped. I guess you can call it, doing your homework for you, or better yet, presenting facts instead of fiction. The general question asked was "how do you wrap your fighters' hands?" This is how the question was answered by some of the game's most reputable and knowledgeable people. 1.- Teddy Atlas "This is why we need a National Commission because there is no rhyme or reason in regards to some of the rules. Every state allows you to wrap the fighters hands differently. I personally usually use gauze, then 1 roll on tape on each hand for my fighters. More tape doesn't add punching power it's more to protect the fighters hands." 2.- Tommie Brooks "The most important thing to do when wrapping your fighters hand is to protect them, not for added punching power. How you do this is by establishing a good base. Start with gauze or pre-wrap, then make sure you wrap the wrist first and very tight. I know every state allows different rules when it comes to wrapping but usually you can get away with one and a half rolls per hand but with the big guys you definitely need two rolls for each hand. It also helps if you have a general idea where the breaks occur, like the knuckles, so you can put extra foam or padding for the fighters." 3.- José "Pepe" Correa Tito Trinidad can punch so god darn hard, you may think he has a brick in his gloves, because that is the way he can kick it. I've heard a lot of garbage about he has this in his gloves, he had that in his gloves....Let me tell you something, whenever there is a championship fight we have inspectors in the dressing rooms that watch us prepare, watch us get our hands wrapped. These are professional people who do nothing but watch you wrap your hands. The only thing that Félix Trinidad had in his gloves fight night against any of those guys he knocked out was hand wraps and KNUCKLES! Real knuckles, not brass knuckles.

damn thats some messed up shit

mochiteco is a bitch.