Lets view the Margarito handwrap issue in perspective...

freeloada15y ago

http://secondsoutcontent.comrz.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/647/MargaritoAntoniofacebeanieh_lx.jpg A fighter’s fists are his weapons. Tampering with a fighter’s gloved fists is one of the worst offenses imaginable in boxing. It subverts the notion of a fair fight and puts the opposing fighter at exponentially greater risk of serious injury or death. On January 24, 2009, Antonio Margarito fought Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In the dressing room prior to the fight, an illegal insert was found in each of Margarito’s knuckle pads. The inserts were removed and the fight proceeded as planned. Mosley knocked Margarito out in the ninth round. Margarito’s license was subsequently revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. On August 18th, the CSAC will consider his application for reinstatement. That is expected to open the door for a proposed November 13th fight between Margarito and Manny Pacquiao. There has been considerable debate during the past eighteen months regarding the Margarito handwrap issue. But the lines have been blurred by inaccurate reporting and the tendency of some observers to take sides based on their fondness or antipathy for Margarito’s promoter, Top Rank. Let’s put the nonsense aside and view the Margarito handwrap issue in perspective. The taping of a fighter’s fist begins with a roll of gauze being wrapped several times around his hand. Then a pad that has been previously fashioned from multiple layers of gauze is placed over the fighter’s knuckles. That’s followed by the application of more gauze and tape. California rules allow for the use of gauze and surgical adhesive tape when wrapping a fighter’s hands; nothing else. The application of water or any other liquid to the gauze or tape is prohibited. Margarito’s hands were wrapped in his dressing room prior to the Mosley fight by his longtime trainer, Javier Capetillo. The task began under the supervision of inspector Che Guevara with Naazim Richardson (Mosley’s trainer) looking on. Before a big fight, Richardson usually objects to the manner in which an opponent’s hands are being taped if for no other reason than to upset the opposing fighter. Here, he lodged numerous objections to the taping of Margarito’s right hand. Several more inspectors, including chief inspector Dean Lohuis, came into the dressing room. Richardson’s objections were overruled. Then Capetillo began taping Margarito’s left hand, and Richardson asked if he could physically inspect the knuckle pad. Lohuis instructed Capetillo to pass the pad to Richardson. Naazim felt it and said that it seemed unusually hard. He then handed the pad to Lohuis, who agreed that it felt stiffer than is normally the case. CSAC inspector David Pereda, who was in the room, later testified, “Naazim opened the gauze and pulled something out of it. He showed us what appeared to be an old gauze which had been used before and hardened from perhaps being sweaty and wet many times.” Inspector Guevara testified, “It was a clean new bandage. But within it, in the inner layers of it, was another bandage wrap. It was not as white as a new bandage wrap would be. It was used and it looked almost like it was sweat soaked and that’s what caused it to have the discoloration. It was harder in certain areas than it should be for pure gauze. It was definitely firm and hard. I believe there was a little bit of, it looked like old blood, on it.” Mike Bray (an inspector who entered the dressing room during the dispute) recalled, “I observed what appeared to be a blood stain on the corner of the pad. I also noticed that it was moist and dirty-looking. The pad had the appearance that it had been used before. After looking at the pad closer, I could see a white substance smeared across the face of the pad and into the gauze. I touched the white substance, and it was hard to touch. It looked like a cast plaster or maybe a thicker type of white out that you would put on paper.” Lohuis confiscated the knuckle pad and instructed Capetillo to make a new one. Capetillo did so and wrapped Margarito’s left hand. Richardson then asked the inspectors to examine the knuckle pad on Margarito’s already-wrapped right hand. Lohuis instructed Capetillo to remove the right handwrap and a similar insert was discovered inside the pad. Lohuis confiscated that pad as well and ordered Capetillo to prepare a new right-hand knuckle pad. After the pads were confiscated, Mike Bray (at Richardson’s request) brought them to Mosley’s dressing room, where three members of Mosley’s team were allowed to touch them under the inspector’s supervision. An undetermined number of commission personnel also touched them. Three days after the fight, the California State Athletic Commission temporarily suspended Margarito’s boxing license and Capetillo’s trainer’s license, and set February 10, 2009, for a hearing on the status of both men. Capetillo testified at the hearing that he prepared Margarito’s knuckle pads in the dressing room at the Staples Center and put them on top of the contents in his training bag. Then, when it was time to wrap, he pulled the wrong knuckle pads out of his bag by mistake. He further testified that the confiscated pads had most likely been used by another boxer while hitting the heavy bag in the gym. “They just throw their things in my bag,” Capetillo told the commission. The following colloquy exemplifies his testimony: Q: Is this the kind of pad you usually use in a championship fight? Capetillo: No, sir. Q: Have you ever used a pad like that in a professional boxing fight? Capetillo: No, sir. Q: So is it your testimony that, when you wrapped Mr. Margarito’s hands, you reached into your training bag and grabbed the wrong pad? Capetillo: That is correct . . . I put my hand in my bag to pull out, they are like little pads. And by mistake, that I had those in my bag, I put them on and I wrapped them on without realizing that it had been a big mistake. There was no direct evidence that Margarito knew about the inserts inside the knuckle pads; only inference. Antonio denied any knowledge of the inserts, and Capetillo testified, “I commit a big mistake and I acknowledge it. I don’t want that this young man have any problem because he is not at fault. He didn’t realize what I had put on.” Prior to the hearing, the California State Athletic Commission sent one of the inserts to the Bureau of Forensic Services at the California Department of Justice for testing. The Commission rejected a request by Margarito’s attorney to allow his own expert to analyze the inserts. The lab results were not in before the hearing. On March 19, 2009, the Bureau of Forensic Services forwarded a report to the CSAC that read, “Calcium and sulpher, two elements found in plaster of Paris, were found on the submitted gauze pad using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The elements calcium, sulpher, and oxygen are found in plaster of Paris. These three elements are also found in substances other than plaster. Oxygen is not detectable by XRF.” Margarito’s defense team contends that calcium and sulpher are also common elements in hand cream and salves. The options available to the California State Athletic Commission ranged from taking no action against Margarito and Capetillo to a fine, suspension, or revocation of their respective licenses (the maximum penalty under law). In the event of revocation, either man would be free to reapply after one year with no guarantee of reinstatement. An irrevocable permanent ban was not an available option. At the close of the February 10, 2009, hearing, the commission voted to revoke each man’s license. It made no finding that Margarito had knowledge of the inserts, but held him responsible for Capetillo’s actions. In so doing, it relied on Boxing Rule 390 of the California Code of Regulations, which states, “Any licensee who conducts himself or herself at any time or place in a manner which is deemed by the commission to reflect discredit to boxing may have his or her license revoked, or may be fined, suspended, or otherwise disciplined in such manner as the commission may direct.” In making its determination, the CSAC imposed a doctrine of “strict liability” upon Margarito. That’s similar to the position that most commissions take when a fighter tests positive for an illegal performance enhancing drug. A fighter, the theory goes, is a professional athlete. He’s responsible for his body and his equipment. If someone who works for him puts something illegal into his body or on his hands, the fighter should be held ultimately responsible. After Margarito’s license was revoked, he filed a lawsuit to overturn the commission’s decision. The matter is currently pending in the Second Appellate District of the California state court system. Meanwhile, on February 10, 2010 (one year after his license was revoked), Margarito became eligible to fight in any state that would grant him a license. There was talk of his fighting in Dallas on the undercard of the March 13th fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey. Indeed, on January 20th, Tim Lueckenhoff (president of the Association of Boxing Commissions) sent an email to Dickie Cole (administrator of combat sports for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation) that read, “The State of Texas may accept an application from Margarito and determine if a boxing contestant license will be issued based upon the laws of Texas.” link

Comments (20)

DeelDough

just knuckle pads and no plaster was ever found. Told you homo's. Its gone from "plaster wraps" to knuckle pads that all fighters use. I'm still waiting to see evidence of plaster or anything other than dried up sweat and blood on gauze. And I thought this was America, if you're gonna steal a man's livelihood, where's his trial in front of a jury of his peers? Oh wait, there never was one. Probably cuz' there's no grounds for one since he did nothing wrong. vete a llorar pa otro lado pariguayo. dame tu direccion pa mandarte una caja de pañuelos , pa cuando Paquiao le este sacando la mierda a tu heroe

15y ago

BattlingNelson

As a matter of correction, V Klitschko's "offence" occurred when he was an amateur, expecting to go to the Olympic games, many years ago. It arose from the fact that his doctor had prescribed a mild steroid to help heal a nagging leg injury, and he made no effort to hide it, but was genuinely surprised to find that it was a banned substance. Resto's and Lewis's offences were blatant and planned with evil intent. They deserved rigid punishment. ALL indications re Margarito, seem to show that he was an innocent party, who, because of "the buck stops here" attitude of the Commissions, was made the major culprit and given the heavier punishment. In that -so far- 18 months U.S. ban, he must have lost, besides reputation, millions of dollars, not to mention the aggravation of being an unfairly punished victim. Nevertheless components other than tape and gauze was found in Margarito's wraps. Maybe he didn't know, but the CSAC verdict indicates that at least he should have known and therefore was given the max penalty they could give him. Need all you weathervanes" be reminded once again- I wrote about this at least 3 times-that in the classic case of "the hidden object in the glove" which was the Dempsey-Willard fight, where Willard suffered such ferocious and bone-breaking punishment, that IMMEDIATELY, dozens of "authentic" pieces of iron, brass etc were being produced by "spectators" who had happened to pick them up in the ring immediately after the fight. There was also a FIRM accusation, or, actually confession, made by Dempsey's manager Doc. Kearns, a known trickster and conniver, that he had sprinkled plaster of paris lavishly inside Dempsey's wrappings, and had Dempsey put his wrapped hands into a pail of water before putting on the gloves. {{And let me point out that Boxing Gloves in those days were far from being the elegantly carefully, well padded items which they are today}}. He "confessed, I think in a book, that the P of P hardened in minutes and it was THIS which caused the enormous damage to Willard's facial bones. And that Dempsey was directly implicated. The consensus was then, that he was trying to boost up the book with this fakery, and make some money as he was hard-up. I believe that Nat Fleisher, the RING publisher and Founder, organised a demonstration with some of his writers and other experts, to duplicate the details set out by Kearns AND.....to nobody's surprise it proved to be a TOTAL flop. After the P of P hardened, the guy was set to hit a bag for a few minutes. Then the gloves were taken off and the wraps examined. There was only a crumble of "expired" P of P, mostly powdered, whieh could not even have hurt a baby. This was accepted as CONCLUSIVE evidence that Kearns was a liar, and that it could not possibly have either worked, nor happened. Dempsey had ALWAYS denied all of the speculations and acusations of wrongdoing. And he was the guy, who accepted bitter defeat, by wryly saying "Sorry honey, I zagged when I shouda' zigged" (something like that anyway). Small correction here my friend. The story was tested by Sports Illustrated. What it proved was that the method described by Kearns was useless. It did not prove that p of p is unuseable in turning a glove into a cast. The story and a discussions on Dempsey's wraps can be found here: http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263497

15y ago

edgarg

Need all you weathervanes" be reminded once again- I wrote about this at least 3 times-that in the classic case of "the hidden object in the glove" which was the Dempsey-Willard fight, where Willard suffered such ferocious and bone-breaking punishment, that IMMEDIATELY, dozens of "authentic" pieces of iron, brass etc were being produced by "spectators" who had happened to pick them up in the ring immediately after the fight. There was also a FIRM accusation, or, actually confession, made by Dempsey's manager Doc. Kearns, a known trickster and conniver, that he had sprinkled plaster of paris lavishly inside Dempsey's wrappings, and had Dempsey put his wrapped hands into a pail of water before putting on the gloves. {{And let me point out that Boxing Gloves in those days were far from being the elegantly carefully, well padded items which they are today}}. He "confessed, I think in a book, that the P of P hardened in minutes and it was THIS which caused the enormous damage to Willard's facial bones. And that Dempsey was directly implicated. The consensus was then, that he was trying to boost up the book with this fakery, and make some money as he was hard-up. I believe that Nat Fleisher, the RING publisher and Founder, organised a demonstration with some of his writers and other experts, to duplicate the details set out by Kearns AND.....to nobody's surprise it proved to be a TOTAL flop. After the P of P hardened, the guy was set to hit a bag for a few minutes. Then the gloves were taken off and the wraps examined. There was only a crumble of "expired" P of P, mostly powdered, whieh could not even have hurt a baby. This was accepted as CONCLUSIVE evidence that Kearns was a liar, and that it could not possibly have either worked, nor happened. Dempsey had ALWAYS denied all of the speculations and acusations of wrongdoing. And he was the guy, who accepted bitter defeat, by wryly saying "Sorry honey, I zagged when I shouda' zigged" (something like that anyway).

15y ago

paulsinghnl

it's weird.. if my hands are wrapped too tight i feel it. knuckle pads, whatever. yes i am a cotto fan, but i'm also a boxer. i know when gloves are too tight, too loose, when my wrapping is too tight, too loose, i even feel when i've wrapped my knuckles more than my wrist. i don't get it, how could Margarito NOT know? sulfur and calcium was found.. how much of it was found? it's just wrong man.. and the PED's and Plaster comparison: when you use PED's, it's something you use to gain strength and stamina, you still have to work for it, for instance steroids make more testosteron so ur muscles grow bigger WHEN you train them hard. u still have to train.. u build ur weapons with enhanced parts, firing the same bullets faster and harder. the plaster are like shotgun slugs in the weapon instead of the smaller caliber rounds in the same old weapon, less speed and pace, but more painful shots. would u have a big brute beat u up with bare hands or a skinny dude with 2 bricks? to be clear though: cheating in any case (PED's or plaster) is WRONG! i think everyone should be expelled from boxing like that.. but that's just me.

15y ago

North_Star

just knuckle pads and no plaster was ever found. Told you homo's. Its gone from "plaster wraps" to knuckle pads that all fighters use. I'm still waiting to see evidence of plaster or anything other than dried up sweat and blood on gauze. And I thought this was America, if you're gonna steal a man's livelihood, where's his trial in front of a jury of his peers? Oh wait, there never was one. Probably cuz' there's no grounds for one since he did nothing wrong. He went before the athletic commission. This was not a criminal or civil case with a judge and jury.

15y ago

venom1

The trainer and boxer should never be allowed to train/fight ever again neither should Panama Lewis be allowed to train. Cotto - Margarito was as close to the olden days of no rules as you can get in boxing, Cotto was dismantled you only had to look at his face after, where wasn't he bleeding from, he was pummeled and obviously if they had used those ****ed up hard knuckle wrpas for the Mosley fight, then they obviously used it before only they didn't get caught in the act. We do not need another resto - collins again, i've read about the collins and resto fight many times and it saddens me what happened it was such a sad story and literally a legal killing. We don't need this in any sport.

15y ago

Horus8731

Excellent points, Horus. Man it is commonsense.

15y ago

edgarg

calcium and sulfer..dont leave that part out..there was plaster present No there wasn't, not shown, indicated nor proven. The comment on the "calcium and sulphur" also added that it is a component of many other items including makeup and etc. I would even surmise, although not being a chemist, that they might be components of talcum powder....... And there was no indication that there was any substantial quantity of the components, merely an indication of traces. that there may have been blood is highly unlikely, unless the previous user hit someone on the nose with a bandaged fist. And even if it is it has no relevant significance.

15y ago

Nuurzhaelan

Excellent points, Horus.

15y ago

edgarg

lol this kind of skewed logic cracks me up margarito's "case" is NOTHING like the resto case 2 completely different situations, therefore, 2 completely different forms of punishment are in order margarito does not deserve to be banned for life. boxing has been very forgiving for people who have actually cheated/tested positive for steroids (in recent times) like vargas, mosley, v klitschsko, toney, etc margarito deserves a second chance and he's getting one bottom line As a matter of correction, V Klitschko's "offence" occurred when he was an amateur, expecting to go to the Olympic games, many years ago. It arose from the fact that his doctor had prescribed a mild steroid to help heal a nagging leg injury, and he made no effort to hide it, but was genuinely surprised to find that it was a banned substance. Resto's and Lewis's offences were blatant and planned with evil intent. They deserved rigid punishment. ALL indications re Margarito, seem to show that he was an innocent party, who, because of "the buck stops here" attitude of the Commissions, was made the major culprit and given the heavier punishment. In that -so far- 18 months U.S. ban, he must have lost, besides reputation, millions of dollars, not to mention the aggravation of being an unfairly punished victim.

15y ago

Sin_City

"The only things that are allowed in hand wraps are gauze and tape and those items aren't gauze and tape." Fresh gauze is supposed to be used for each fight CSAC Rule 323 limits the amount and type of gauze and tape allowed under a fighter's boxing glove. Rule 390 allows CSAC to discipline a licensee when his or her actions are a 'discredit to boxing' or violate the rules of CSAC. Commission Chairman: Tim Noonan said the inquiry stems from a commission rule that limits the amount and type of gauze and tape allowed under a fighter's glove. He said the commission has authority to discipline athletes when their actions are a "discredit to boxing." Inspector: Mike Bray, said during questioning that he had seen the pads and that they were "moist and dirty looking with a white substance smeared across the pad, like a cast plaster." A California Department of Justice senior criminalist who inspected the wrappings under a stereomicroscope and with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer determined the wraps contained sulfur and calcium, according to a document obtained by the Times. Those two elements, with the addition of oxygen, make plaster of Paris. Sulfur + Calcium + Oxygen = Plaster of Paris. Plaster of Paris is a type of building material based on calcium sulphate hemihydrate, nominally CaSO4·1/2H2O. It is created by heating gypsum to about 150 °C Plaster of Paris only requires mixing with water to activate Margarito's Wraps FACTS 1. Moist (water to activate) 2. White substance smeared across the pad, like a cast plaster. 3. The wraps when tested had the ingrediance of sulfur + Caluim(Sulfur + Calcium + Oxygen = Plaster of Paris.) 4. They were hardening 5. Capetillo used old gauze. NOT NEW ones BASED ON THE FACTS: Margarito Wraps were a discredit to boxing, evidence has proven that his wraps contained the elements of Plaster of Paris. Margarito to this day, has yet to sue or publicly denouned Capetillo. Which should be viewed at the very least suspicious since he claims this man has single handly detroyed his career. Margarito has yet to take a lie detector test which is also shocking since you would think he would do everything possible to prove his innocence. this.... ain't that some shit. i rarely agree with horus on anything too.

15y ago

El_7_Mares_V2

the world renowned Feria De San Marcos when people talk about the biggest and best boxing venues around the world they speak of the Grand Garden, MSG, Yankee Stadium, and.. la Ferie De San Marcos (a county fair in Tijuana, Mexico):rofl: It's actually in Aguas Calientes not in Tijuana you ignorant f uck.

15y ago

Sin_City

He should have lost to Taylor the first time, and Whitaker made him look like a fool and gave hima beating. you fight a full fight until the final bell.. if you are knocked down get up and are unable to respond to the referee.. no matter how much time is on the clock, you are knocked out and unable to continue. should have, could have, would have.. Taylor did not respond and thus was unable to continue.

15y ago

Horus8731

15y ago

BattlingNelson

There was no plaster. If there was the commision would have said so and released the pads and evidence to the media. margarito is innocent and is being victimized for no reason. if there was something on the wraps, he'd be banned. again, sulfur and calcium are also found in other things. notice how that article doesn't state flat out that there was plaster of paris found in the wraps. the words are manipulated in such a way that people just swallow it as "fact" Facts remain that preused hardened inserts was found in the wraps. Margarito was found to be responsible even though it's possible that he didn't know about it. Such is the law. Still the commision gave him the hardest sentence possible, so I'd guess that they believe he knew. Regarding plaster of paris the article doesn't present that as a 'fact'. It only states that 2 main ingredients was found and that Capetillo said that those products is from a cream. You can believe the proven liar Capetillo if you want.

15y ago

Sin_City

so because a fight venue isn't in the U.S it's a joke? how many current boxers can draw a crowd that big (K bros, Floyd, Pac, Cotto, thats about it) it's in Aguascalientes not Tijuana btw Forgive me for not naming all the top venues in the entire world. I could go on naming dozens of them.. a fair in Aguascalientes would not be one of them.

15y ago

Nuurzhaelan

lol this kind of skewed logic cracks me up margarito's "case" is NOTHING like the resto case 2 completely different situations, therefore, 2 completely different forms of punishment are in order margarito does not deserve to be banned for life. boxing has been very forgiving for people who have actually cheated/tested positive for steroids (in recent times) like vargas, mosley, v klitschsko, toney, etc margarito deserves a second chance and he's getting one bottom line Boxing is not a right. It's an earned responsibility. The SACs are not required to give licenses and can deny them for a variety of reasons. IMO, whether margachito was or was not aware of what his trainer was doing, he should have known. I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt. That is my prerogative, my judgment. There is no way he 'deserves' a second chance, not at this. At life, perhaps, but not this. Sadly, he is getting a second chance, but I will not forgive him.

15y ago

street_bully

Chavez was soo old that the only blemish on his record until the first De La Hoya fight was Frankie Randall and on a winning spree that consisted of KOs and UDs to names like Meldrick Taylor and Tony The Tiger Lopez .. until he meet De La Hoya, after that night he was past it.. :rolleyes: He should have lost to Taylor the first time, and Whitaker made him look like a fool and gave hima beating.

15y ago

Sin_City

Chavez was an old man. He is also an ATG. Chavez was soo old that the only blemish on his record until the first De La Hoya fight was Frankie Randall and on a winning spree that consisted of KOs and UDs to names like Meldrick Taylor and Tony The Tiger Lopez .. until he meet De La Hoya, after that night he was past it.. :rolleyes:

15y ago

Dynamite_Kid

From what i heard Margarito offered the them the hand which had the plaster in so they could check it, makes you wonder whether he really did know when you hear stuff like this, by all accounts he shows little remorse, which either means if he is guilty he is a stone cold mofo, or that he actually was oblivious and therefore believes he has nothing to apologize for. I think the whole issue got blown way outta proportion myself, not that im a Margarito supporter.

15y ago