Holloway: Margarito injured me in sparring!

Ray15y ago

Welterweight believes "Marga-cheato" used illegal wraps during gym wars Last Sunday on the Fighting Words Network, the Breathe Boxing Radio staff sat down with welterweight Rashad Holloway, who has a pro record of 11-1-2 and also has served as Manny Pacquiao's sparring partner. He spoke to Maureen “The Real Million Dollar Baby” Shea and myself to discuss various subjects in boxing and his career. The following are some of the highlights of his interview: MS: I heard you were sparring with Julio Chavez Jr. in preparation for John Duddy. How did that go? RH: It was very good. I am a humble person never one to brag, but let’s just say Freddie would not let me spar with him anymore after the first day. I did well. Chavez has come a long way. The kid has talent plus he can fight but certain styles are going to give him trouble and certain people are. I have been boxing since I was 11, so I have forgotten more than most be have learned but Chavez is still fairly green. TK: Will Chavez be a sufficient enough chief sparring partner for Manny Pacqiuao to prepare for Antonio Margarito? RH: I think so. Being a guy who has been in there with both Pacqiuao and Margarito, Maragrito has much more expierence than Chavez Jr. He knows how to come in another door if one way does not work. It’s not like he is great at so many different things but he is not going to do the wrong thing over and over again. Chavez Jr. is tough, he also has a lot of heart and balls. He can take a good shot, He has a real good chin that can take some punishment. The only thing with him is he is not as offensive, he can’t put his punches together like Margarito. Chavez is wide, he is built like Margarito. He is pretty strong. I think he will hold up with the headgear on. He just does not have the expierence Margarito does. TK: A lot of people do not like the whole Pacquiao-Margarito fight. They do not think Margarito deserves it from the loaded glove situation. I remember in the past there was a situation in sparring where you were injured sparring Margarito and it raised questions about the loaded gloves. Do you feel he deserves this fight? RH: There is no way in hell that Margarito deserves this fight! I really didn’t speak on the Margarito injury for a while. It was a sore spot for me. Honestly, it was an injury that almost cost me my career. Not only did I have a fractured orbital bone but I had permanent nerve and muscle damage in my right eye. That is what made the injury so bad. They thought they were going to have to do things with metal plates and everything else. They thought it would never be the same, but through little procedures and tests it came back. It is not 100% but it will never be the same again. It is one of those things where Margarito’s trainer, and I still have the interview, said on ESPN that they used the pads everyday at the gym. He pretty much told on himself. Margarito can’t say that he didn’t know it was on his hands. You gotta be real. I know if knuckle guards are on my hand, I know if they are hard or soft. I have been in the gym where Margarito got his hands wrapped. Now I would be lying if I saw him put it in. I didn’t pay attention and I shouldn’t have to. I thought he was getting his hands wrapped like anyone else. I just don’t see how he deserves it! TK: Since you are close to the situation and how everyone is now going back and forth, what do you know about the negoiations between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.? RH: This is a known fact. In the beginning Mayweather want the drug test but Manny would not agree to it. Now he has agreed to the drug tests months ago. Then Mayweather wanted everything his way. He (Manny) gave in and said let’s just make the fight happen. It was a done deal, I heard from Freddie, everyone else, and it was made public. Then Manny signed the contract but Floyd still would not. Floyd has made every excuse possible. I am not being bias because it is Manny, I would say the same thing if it was the other way around. Floyd is afraid of a challenge, but he is not afraid of Manny. He is just simply afraid of challenges. He runs his mouth and he has only fought one guy in his prime and that was Diego Corrales. If you would like to hear the entire interview in which Rashad speaks on his career, Billy Collin-Luis Resto, and amateur boxing please click the link below. Also on the broadcast is an interview with Golden boy prospect Mikey Perez:

Comments (20)

rao007

yeah we already know margacheato is a plaster wearing bum, but pacgwire aint worried cuz ariza's special ped shakes are unstoppable. While I agree with your statement----let's get this straight about your sig---Cotto was, is, and forever will be a bum...a great fighter? Laughable.

15y ago

any_craic_lad

5.45 onwards

15y ago

Eaner0919

You might've had a better argument if he still sparred with him after the Mosley fight. He might've been giving Tony the benefit of the doubt all this time until he was caught plaster handed. I remember him barking about it after Tony got caught. Why would he just assume he was using plaster just because he got roughed up. I mean fracturing an orbital socket isn't impossible for someone to do without plaster, but it isn't that common in sparring, and the fact that he got busted with the plaster substance definitely opened the door for that type of speculation. you know maybe but when Andy Kolle also goes on record stating the exact opposite of Rashad is now claiming when Rashad himself tells me repeatedly Tony didn't hit hard Craig McEwan Austin Trout Karim Mayfield et al say the same thing I tend to see this as sour grapes for a really bad accident that is a once in a lifetime thing

15y ago

htown00

one more thing before I am done if again this were the case then why would Rashad do more than one camp with Tony AND more than a few weeks for this specific camp if Tony's hands were brick like as he alludes to? He had done two maybe three camps with Tony (Golden Johnson, Cotto I think, Mosley) He told me the first time I got him the sparring gig (for Golden Johnson) that he didn't think Tony hit hard at all but that it was the pressure he puts on. You might've had a better argument if he still sparred with him after the Mosley fight. He might've been giving Tony the benefit of the doubt all this time until he was caught plaster handed. I remember him barking about it after Tony got caught. Why would he just assume he was using plaster just because he got roughed up. I mean fracturing an orbital socket isn't impossible for someone to do without plaster, but it isn't that common in sparring, and the fact that he got busted with the plaster substance definitely opened the door for that type of speculation.

15y ago

ManOfVictory

Bullshitz!

15y ago

Kev

he has only fought one guy in his prime and that was Diego Corrales. Corrales, Castillo, Chavez, Hatton, Judah were all prime. Castillo was the lineal/Ring champion. Judah was one fight removed from being Lineal/Ring champ and Mayweather fought the real champ after whooping Judah. DLH was not prime but is fighting at 154 for the first time in your career against a real 154 pounder with legit wins at that weight, not taking on a challenge? How can one believe he is not being bias towards Pacquiao by saying shit like this?

15y ago

El_7_Mares_V2

This. The monster puncher comes up short the night he's caught with illegal substances in his gloves, and has to fight without them. What a coincidence. Some of the posters around here kill me. He barely landed anything against Mosley so who's to say he didn't have any power? Margartio prior to the handwrap scandal was never known to be a murderous puncher, more like a solid puncher that KO's opponents by accumulation of shots. So the mere fact that Shane never let Tony get into a rhythm the whole night, plus the fact he had just got to go through that whole handwrap scenario minutes before the fight and throwing him completely off his game AND to make matters worse...weight drained...that's the result you saw that night.

15y ago

el_jeffe

It's nice to read a post of someone who knows what he's talking about, I love boxing and I love reading fans opinions, Not all but most of the posts and threads around here are from racist ignorant people who probably have nothing better to do, so cheers to you Eaner for your info, good read

15y ago

paulf

There are numerous accounts of margachito having very painful and damaging punches in the past. Suddenly, when he fought Mosley, he lost all that punching power AND something illegal was found in his wraps on the SAME FRIGGING EVENING? Yeah, definitely coincidence...definitely. Which is why he went to a 10 round decision against a guy who is largely regarded as a journeyman and why his opponent came out little worse for wear. This. The monster puncher comes up short the night he's caught with illegal substances in his gloves, and has to fight without them. What a coincidence. Some of the posters around here kill me.

15y ago

Eaner0919

Why did Capetillo say those pads were worn in training? Why did they already look used along with a blood stain? Not saying Hollaway's specific story is true. that was in reference as to why the pads looked old and used Capetillo, and other trainers, sometimes will created pads in camp and let them mold to a fighters hands making it easier to put on then off during a camp. The gauze will kind of moisten then form into the shape of the knuckles making it more comfortable Capetillo probably used an old pad from wrapping Tony for camp but what was added on was new thus the wetness of it when first touched

15y ago

Dirk_Diggler_UK

Why the fuk would he use loaded gloves in sparring against some bum? This joker is just looking to piggy back some publicity.

15y ago

Zarco

maybe he truely believes that now but in the conversations we had about his injury, even after Tony was suspended, never once did he say he thought Tony loaded it wasn't until Rashad moved to Las Vegas and all that he started feeling that way. One of the last talks I had with him he had mentioned that he felt Tony did something dirty to him and I replied back that why the change? He never really replied but I think alot was due to the aspect that he wasn't getting the fights he had hoped forWhy did Capetillo say those pads were worn in training? Why did they already look used along with a blood stain? Not saying Hollaway's specific story is true.

15y ago

Eaner0919

15y ago

Zarco

That still won't stop Pac from kicking his ass :lol1:.You didn't read the article did you?

15y ago

mathed

Rashad Holloway: "Floyd is afraid of a challenge, but he is not afraid of Manny. He is just simply afraid of challenges. He runs his mouth and he has only fought one guy in his prime and that was Diego Corrales." Damn...........

15y ago

Eaner0919

prediction for PAC-Tony? me having a sad face

15y ago

Eaner0919

Hey E what about his claims that Pac agreed to the testing and that its all FLoyds fault do his claims hold water? I have no idea bruh I am completely done with those two in relation to each other

15y ago

Nuurzhaelan

well not for nothing but isn't that the point of this thread? your thoughts about Tony I respect even if it's a polar opposite of what I think but if someone comes out and in all honesty flat out goes against everything he had said prior to things and I have firsthand knowledge about it? best believe I will set the record straight no matter how close Rashad and I are or were I get ya. I was really just attacking the idea that he is innocent of cheating or attempting to cheat. Your story may hold water, or be completely true...but that does not make the rest of it (the potential that he cheated in one or more of his fights other than when he was caught) untrue. It just means that he did not cheat during sparing. And that's fine.

15y ago

any_craic_lad

sigh I hate to do this but....... I was Rashad's former advisor and as many of you know part of Team Margarito I, unlike these experts who claim that Rashad has a case, was actually there when this happened I, unlike these experts who keep adding to this non issue, talked to Rashad immediately after it happened and the whole time we got treatment for the eye. I, unlike these people who want to see everything into things, was on the phone with Sergio Diaz when he agreed to pay for Rashad's medical costs when the injury occured because Rashad did not have his insurance straight. Diaz did not have to pay a dime yet he stepped up and paid a good portion of Rashad's costs, something Rashad or anyone fueling this never states. I also remember every single time I talked to Rashad, even in the days after Tony's suspension, he never mentioned it being from loaded pads. at the time of the injury, I saw the dvd of the sparring session, again something no one in this article has seen. Diaz recorded every sparring session what happened. This was officially Rashad's last day of sparring. We had determined he did not want to be the sparring partner of the stars and that he needed his own identity not based off of the sparring he was giving. I told Sergio and he agreed that it was time for Rashad to shine, thanked me and Rashad for the sparring and said that his last day of sparring would be that Friday. cool now I had two weeks off of my regular job so I was there a lot. The day Rashad sparred he started off the sparring. Now both went at it in the rounds leading up to the injury and the ring is small (Sergio Mora's gym) so there wasn't much room for Rashad or any sparrer (Karim Mayfield and Said El Harrack we also part of the sparring) to manuveur away from Tony. Well Tony had Rashad against the ropes and kind of put his hands out to block an uppercut. What happened was Tony's punch got partially deflected to the point where the palm portion was exposed and that landed on Rashad's eye socket NOT the front of Tony's glove. The DVD showed this as well. Tony also wears 18oz Winnings when sparring so these things are hugely padded. Sdd to that the faceguard Rashad wears and it's virtually impossible to land a clean shot direct to someone's face. Now with the palm bent a bit (the palm is the least padded area on a glove) it could get into the socket area easier than the front of the glove Rashad up until we stopped communicating to each other had always stated it was a freak accident and that it was a once in a lifetime shot. Want to know how sure I am of this? I sent in a personal signed and notorized statement to Tony's laywers to present to NSAC explaining this because NSAC's concerned were raised by Rashad's comments. I also got Andy Kolle, a former sparrer of Tony's, to send in a statement saying that Tony's punches never seemed harder than usual of causing him extreme damage I love Rashad and at one time considered him a brother but this has to stop and I wish it would That a boy Eaner

15y ago

Chuckguy

maybe he truely believes that now but in the conversations we had about his injury, even after Tony was suspended, never once did he say he thought Tony loaded it wasn't until Rashad moved to Las Vegas and all that he started feeling that way. One of the last talks I had with him he had mentioned that he felt Tony did something dirty to him and I replied back that why the change? He never really replied but I think alot was due to the aspect that he wasn't getting the fights he had hoped for Hey E what about his claims that Pac agreed to the testing and that its all FLoyds fault do his claims hold water?

15y ago