antonio margarito blown opportunity

its an article built on hindsight pure and simple. The thing that this writer asssumes is that every fight knows and is aware of what is going on their hands and that is simply not the case. Shane Mosley himself told me he puts on his Ipod and stares off into oblivion concentrating on the fight at hand I understand the severity of what transpired 1/24/09 but where is this writer in seeking out Capetillo for his thoughts and why he did what he did?

LOS ANGELES – Antonio Margarito had a shot to salvage his battered reputation on Tuesday. He blew it. Margarito is a black sheep in a sport that doesn’t need any more of them, and even 15 months on from his hour of disgrace and a few weeks shy of his return to the boxing ring, he just doesn’t get why. This week Margarito spoke publicly for the first time since Jan. 24, 2009, the night Shane Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson, alerted officials to irregularities in Margarito’s handwraps prior to a WBA welterweight title fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mosley would go on to win the fight comfortably, yet the revelations set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the revocation of Margarito’s California boxing license, his 12-month suspension from fighting in the United States, and the ruination of his standing in the sport. However, given the “Tijuana Tornado’s” defiant attitude at the Millennium Biltmore hotel on Tuesday, he clearly feels as though steering clear of competitive action for just over a year means all will be forgiven and forgotten. He is sorely mistaken. Margarito has not reapplied for a California license and will instead take on Roberto Garcia in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on May 8. During his time out, his former trainer, Javier Capetillo, has taken the rap over the wraps, with the boxer claiming he had no knowledge of any illegal gauze pad (which was apparently loaded with a plaster-like substance) being inserted. Boxing’s history is sadly littered with its share of unsavory characters and the sport will never stand accused of being squeaky clean. But there is something particularly stomach-churning about the thought of loaded gloves in a game where leather-cased fists alone can cause severe damage to human skulls and the mental faculties that lie beneath them. That is why some semblance of culpability and remorse would have been so welcome. Why it would have made his return so much easier to swallow for the thousands of fans who just wish he would disappear. No one expected an admission of guilt from Margarito, a teary confession where he laid his soul bare and said he was a cheat. But if he had at least stood up like a man and admitted that he should have known what was being inserted into his wraps, that he had made an error in concentration, and that a fighter should take responsibility for at least keeping an eye on his own fistic preparation, it would have been something. Instead there was outrage, excuses, defiance and a stubborn refusal to give straight answers to straight questions. “People don’t know me,” he pleaded, through a translator. “They don’t know my history that has always been clean. People are just going by what is said and written.” At a venue which used to host the Academy Awards, Margarito’s performance was thoroughly unconvincing. His game plan was to plead ignorance and stick to it. The fighter and his small army of cronies who seek to excuse him were infuriated by the line of questioning chiefly employed by myself and The Ring’s Mike Rosenthal. Several times I gave Margarito the opportunity to say that even if he didn’t know what was in his wraps, he should have known. Given that many fighters claim they would be able to tell if a stray hair had gotten into their wraps, let alone a lump of hardened matter, it was a fair inquiry. Each time, there was a steadfast refusal, a scowl of frustration and anger from his sneering associates. “I didn’t know what was on my hands,” said Margarito. “I never had to deal with any of these things before, and now you’re telling me I have to deal with it every time? “I didn’t know, I don’t know anything about what happened. I put my hands up there, and they wrapped them. I don’t know what you guys want from me. You don’t have to believe me. I’ll prove it to everyone. I’ll show you guys.” For a boxer who has made his name by standing and slugging it out with the best, it was a master class in evasion. Promoter Bob Arum has been banging the Margarito drum like only he knows how, trying to spark interest in this fight and in the resurrection of his boxer. “I have been distressed by the amounts of misinformation that’s been out there,” Arum said. “People want to sentence this guy to purgatory and that’s just shameful and sad.” The long-term plan is to have Margarito thrown in with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, maybe even as early as later this year. For the sake of boxing’s credibility, let’s hope not by martin rogers margo isn't the smartest guy out there so I believe him when he said he just sticks his hands out there and doesn't pay attention. I dunno where this writer is trying to go with getting margo to admit that he should know what goes on his hand. margo should just tell this guy he can personally inspect margo's gloves each time he gets them wrapped before a fight. having said all that, margo should be banned.

Most likely? How did he Most likely do anything with not one shred of proof. You punish a man for what he did do and not what you "think" he did. Don't try reasoning with this retard. He's got Plasterito's dick lodged in his throat.

thats why boxers should watch what they sign i would even say make enough money and go out and promote yourself like mayweather and roy jones jr and a few others Roy Jones Jr certainly promoted himself for most of his career and maybe this is why certain very lucrative fights didn't occur (rematches with Toney or Hopkins when all were still young would have made a lot of $$$) as well as other fights with better opposition than who he chose to fight. Jones did the best he could but would have been better off if he had a promoter. Mayweather has a promotional company but really uses Golden Boy (they get a percentage of all his fights) to promote him. Sure, the downside to having a promoter is that they get some of your earnings. But I feel this is offset by being able to get bigger fights. Promoters specialize in the business aspect (no matter how much we hate them promoters like King, Arum, etc... make $$$ and handle all the details better than most boxers can with De La Hoya being the only real exception to this). I agree with you though, fighters need to be smarter and have an independent lawyer look over any promotional contract they sign. I just don't see too many out there though that are capable of sufficiently promoting and managing themselves and all of the business related aspects of the sport while still focusing on fighting at the same time.

This is the problem I have with that piece, he says he didn't expect Margarito to come out and start crying and say he was guilty, yet what was he looking for? If Margarito comes out and says he was guilty of loading his wraps, or that he kind of thought something was being put in there but never asked questions, he get CRUCIFIED anyway, so whats the point? There is no right way for Margarito to answer these questions without complete and total ignorance and denial. Anything short of that will spell doom for Margarito and he understands this. He might be done anyway but to think that if he even hints as to knowing something was in his wraps will help his cause, the writer of this piece is an idiot. As soon as Marg says he did it or knew about it, he will never get his license back. At least with this strategy, he is giving himself a window of opportunity. Look, I don't know if he knew, he cheated before or what happened but I do know that something like this will not be forgotten and Marg admitting or even hinting of admitting it will not be any way good for him.

dude they found the wraps in his hand and if they didnt he would had use it the night they did find something in his wraps Do you even know what was in the wraps first of all? Do you? Shane Mosely himself has said in an interview with the Ring magazine that the way Margaritos hands were wrapped that night were actually intended to be used to protect Tony's hands and not to be used as a weapon. Paul Williams and Emmanuel Stewerd have also said the same in other interviews and you Forget that Manny trained Cintron for his fight with Margarito and Paul Williams fought and actually ate punches from Margarito before this whole hand wrap thing happened. You should really try to investigate things for yourself instead of just listening to whatever garbage gets regurgitated by know nothings on a message board.

Moste likely? How did he Most likely do anything with not one shred of proof. You punish a man for what he did do and not what you "think" he did. dude they found the wraps in his hand and if they didnt he would had use it the night they did find something in his wraps

I hate promoters, they have one of the easiest jobs compared to a fighter who is actually taking punishment in the ring. As far as I'm concerned Promoters are well over-paid. thats why boxers should watch what they sign i would even say make enough money and go out and promote yourself like mayweather and roy jones jr and a few others

Most likely? How did he Most likely do anything with not one shred of proof. You punish a man for what he did do and not what you "think" he did.

yea i was just thinking that it seems like arum doesnt really care about his boxers like he cares about his wallet I hate promoters, they have one of the easiest jobs compared to a fighter who is actually taking punishment in the ring. As far as I'm concerned Promoters are well over-paid.

Arum needs to shut his ugly trap up, when Cotto/Pacquiao was signed on the hbo hype up to the fight, Arum kept saying that Margarito most likely cheated to beat Cotto. Now Arum looks like an idiotic hypocrite. Why isn't Arum dead yet anyways, isn't he like 90 yrs old? yea i was just thinking that it seems like arum doesnt really care about his boxers like he cares about his wallet

Arum needs to shut his ugly trap up, when Cotto/Pacquiao was signed on the hbo hype up to the fight, Arum kept saying that Margarito most likely cheated to beat Cotto. Now Arum looks like an idiotic hypocrite. Why isn't Arum dead yet anyways, isn't he like 90 yrs old?