http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/01/officials-found.html
Officials found what one doctor described as plaster of Paris hidden in the wrapped hands of Antonio Margarito (above left at the weigh-in Friday) shortly before the welterweight champion's title defense against Shane Mosley (above right) on Saturday at the Staples Center, leading to accusations that Margarito may have been trying to cheat.
According to Judd Burstein, the attorney for Mosley, Margarito had wet pads in the wrapping. Mosley's doctor, Robert Olvera, likened the material to the type of plaster used to make casts.
"It gets hard and mobile," said Olvera, who said he scratched the pad and "flakes of plaster of Paris" came off.
Burstein said he seized the pad removed from the wrapping and another pad found in Margarito's dressing room. Both were placed in a sealed box that was given to Dean Lohuis of the California Boxing Commission for further study.
Burstein said representatives of both boxers "discussed this exact issue" at Friday's rules meeting "and they went ahead and violated it."
After the suspicious pads were removed from Margarito's dressing room, the boxer's hands were rewrapped and the fight went off on time. Because the violation was caught before Margarito stepped into the ring, Margarito's camp will likely be subject to little more than a disciplinary action if the substance is found to be illegal.
Nazzim Richardson, the trainer for Mosley, was the first to notice something unusual about Margarito's wrap job and asked officials to take the tape off. That's when the foreign substance was discovered, seized and placed in a box for investigation after the bout.
"That's a serious offense," an official with Golden Boy, Mosley's promoter, said. "That's cheating."
Mosley was informed of the discovery before the fight, Burstein said. According to the lawyer, Mosley said he took that as evidence that Margarito "was scared" going into the bout.
Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, Margarito's promoter, shrugged and said he was told only that "additional gauze" had been taken off his fighter's hand wraps.
-- Kevin Baxter and Lance Pugmire
If it's true, can't image how bad the effects would a have been.
Collin-Resto
"During the fight, Billy told it felt like he was getting hit with rocks," she added. "Now we know he really was getting hit with rocks. It was that much worse."
While surfing the net, I also just found out that Collins wasn't in a car accident but that he drove off a cliff because he had permanent blurry vision and was depressed that he couldn't fight again.
Sad story, true. :sad2:
You would think at this point they would simply halt the wrapping process, take a photo of the wraps, then take the wraps themselves for examination. At least then we'd have some solid proof from the commission as to what's going on :ugh:
Margacheato is done. It serves him right to get the beating of lifetime like he received last night. Props to Mosley. Seldom have I seen such a combination of speed and crushing power.
http://queensberry-rules.com/Plaster-of-Paris-Fix-Cast.jpg
http://queensberry-rules.com/2009/01/suspend-antonio-margarito-if-the-cheating-allegations-are-true.html
Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson is the one who protested the wrap, and this is his version of the story (Richardson, by the way, was one of the people who protested Felix Trinidad's hand wrap before his fight with Bernard Hopkins, although the issue there was gauze and tape; so Richardson's brilliance was not only in giving Mosley a winning strategy, but in being sharp enough to recognize some potential cheating by his opponent):
Richardson would not surrender the pieces until Mosley's attorney Judd Burstein arrived in the dressing room. At that point, they were placed in a box, sealed and signed, and given to Lohuis.
"When he put the wrapping on, I asked if I could feel it and when I felt it, I was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is too hard,' " Richardson said. "When the commission flipped the over, a little block of gauze-like plaster fell out. I said, 'Unwrap the other hand,' and they were saying, 'Oh, oh, the other hand is good.' I asked the commissioner, 'What if I unwrap the other hand at the end of the fight and it falls out of there, too?'
"He made them unwrap it. And when they unwrapped the other hand, another one fell out. It was wet with a little plaster on it."
A second member of the Mosley camp added some detail, per the Los Angeles Times:
Mosley's doctor, Robert Olvera, likened the material to the type of plaster used to make casts.
"It gets hard and mobile," said Olvera, who said he scratched the pad and "flakes of plaster of Paris" came off.
Here's what Margarito's promoter said:
Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who promotes Margarito, said he was told the wrap was simply gauze that was balled up by the knuckles. DuBoef said that when Richardson objected, Margarito's camp was happy to comply and rewrap.
What we have here are two parties to the fight -- Mosley's camp and the California commission -- asserting that, at minimum, an illegal substance that was wet and would harden, was found in Margarito's gloves. A third party -- Margarito's camp -- is suggesting in a roundabout way that if anything improper happened, it was innocent and cleared up quickly.
It is my hope that a fuller investigation is conducted, per Golden Boy's lawyer.
What's funny is me and my dad were talking yesterday ( Before the fight occurred) and he said Margarito punches decievingly hard, he said against Cotto his punches didn't look that powerful but Cotto was busted up pretty severely.
Of course we put it down to him hitting decievingly hard. Now that we know the guy is a cheat a huge question mark will be placed over that victory. I honestly have no respect for him, he may have ruined Cotto's career. Also it's a disgusting thing to do, boxing is a dangerous sport as it is but to essentially make a cast out of your hand.
People have died when they do shit like that.
Holy crap.............it's more serious than I thought!
Agreed, when I heard about it I thought it was really, really bad for the fact that he tried to cheat... and wasn't sure on what damage it might have caused. However now I am more aware of what damages it could have caused and I think it was an absolute disgrace. If it is all true and there is no reasonable explanation then I think he should get a ban from boxing for a year or so.
I mean, I don't want to start saying "what if" but I am going to in this case;
What if Margarito went into the fight in that condition... it could have caused Mosley permanent damage?
What if he has done this in previous fights (I know there is no proof, but there is a chance) then that could take all of his credit and especially respect away?
What if he wasn't caught, think of if he was successful because of this offense what kind of achievements he could have achieved and money he could have made... just from cheating?
What if he continued like normal, and kept doing it without getting caught... think of the different injuries he could of caused... permanent injuries?
I think it is a disgrace if it is true and there is no reasonable explanation (By the way... I am not flaming Margarito just yet, I am waiting to see what happens first to see if there is a reasonable explanation. I just put what I will think if there isn't any reasonable explanation). :)
If this turns out to be true then its going to leave lots of question marks on a lot of margarito's big wins over the span of his whole career.
If it turns out to be true i wont be ignorant enough to believe he only used them just this one time to fight mosley...i'd be inclined to believe he used them against other opponents as well...
Judging from how the fight went and how margarito wasnt really able to hurt mosley or even encourage him be more cautious leads me to believe margarito's punching strength might not be his strength at all...rather his accesscory in his boxing glove.
I dont know for sure yet so i dont want to automatically discredit margarito so i will wait for an official word.
It would be a true shame if this turns out to be true. Not only would it hurt him for the mosley fight but it hurts him for MANY of his previous fights...and could ruin his whole future career as a fighter.
I hope its not true since margarito is such a down to earth straight forward fighter...or at least appears that way.
Hand Wraps Could Plaster Margarito's Career
Kevin Baxter of The Los Angeles Times writes about the incident regarding Antonio Margarito's hand wrapping for before his Saturday night with Shane Mosley...
"Margarito may be about to lose much of the respect he has in the boxing world after a suspicious substance likened to plaster of Paris was removed from his hand wrappings before he left the dressing room."
Plaster of Paris, those three words are very ugly in the sport of boxing. Margarito can rebound from the physical defeat administered by Shane Mosley, but if it is ruled that plaster was found on Margarito or his team, the public and legal backlash could ruin his career. If these reports of cheating ring true, instead of being remembered for an instant welterweight classic against Miguel Cotto, his legacy will be that of a man who tried to use the lowest of tactics in an inherently dangerous sport. A possible suspension and black balling from the sport could also be headed Margarito's way.
Boxing is not very forgiving of cheaters, ask Panama Lewis.
Let us not crucify Margarito yet, but if a legitimate news source like the Los Angeles Times labeled Margarito's seized wrapping plaster of Paris, it is not good news for the Tijuana Tornado.
http://www.******************.com/articles.php?id=6250
instead of the asteriks, it should be boxing confidential .com
This is what may happen when plaster of paris is used:
Resto, at a news conference on Thursday in New York, acknowledged that the tape used to wrap his hands in that fight had been soaked in plaster of Paris, giving him a pair of hardened casts underneath his unpadded gloves.
Collins suffered from blurred vision and depression after the June 16, 1983 fight.
Resto and his trainer, Panama Lewis, were convicted of assault and conspiracy and served jail time after a jury found they had tampered with the gloves. Both men were banned from boxing.
Check the interesting article from ESPN:http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3329115
Here another one:
South African boxer Edward Mpofu banned for life for using plaster of paris under gloves during a bout in September
http://www.15rounds.com/south-african-boxer-edward-mpofu-banned-for-life-for-using-plaster-of-paris-under-gloves-during-a-bout-in-september-111308/
17y ago
Margarito caught with plaster of Paris ! | BoxingScene Community