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you guys dont have to internet hate on me for thinking of this in a different perspectiveComment
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Hey dimwitt, it's been done before on various occassions.Comment
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Luis Resto adds another sad chapter to 25-year-old boxing scandal
Luis Resto and his trainer Panama Lewis removed the padding from his boxing gloves before he fought Billy Collins, Jr. at Madison Square Garden 25 years ago. Resto beat Collins to a pulp.
Resto and Lewis were subsequently convicted and served time for their crime. Collins suffered from blurry vision and depression after the fight. Nine months after the fight Collins died in a car crash near his home in Nashville that some believe was no accident.
Resto added another heinous chapter to that sad story on Thursday when he admitted that Lewis also put plaster on the tape over his knuckles, encasing his fists in a cast inside of the gloves with the pad removed.
"It was like a bare knuckle fight," said Eric Drath, the director of a documentary about the fight and the scandal entitled "Cornered."
Resto sat at a small table at Jack Demsey's in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon between a poster advertising the documentary and a poster-sized black and white photo of Collins' face - his eyes blackened and swollen shut - taken after the fight.
In soft tones Resto, a once-promising welterweight from the Bronx, expressed regret for what happened. But he still seemed confused why he was banned from boxing 24 years ago. Drath, who befriended Resto during the filming, apparently coaxed him to come clean.
As a result of the new information regarding the tape, Andrea Collins-Nile, Collins widow, has filed a motion with the Federal Court in Albany to re-open the case against New York State. A civil trial in the matter resulted in a hung jury and the case in the Federal Court of Claims against the State of New York was dismissed by a judge.
"Ultimately I'm not Resto's judge," Collins-Nile said. "The boxing commission was negligent. They were there to protect my ex-husband and they did not."
Billy Collins, Sr., who trained his son, discovered that the gloves had the padding removed after he went over to shake Resto's hand after the fight. Collins became upset and screamed that there was no padding in the gloves. The gloves were confiscated in the dressing room by the New York commission that night.
Mark Thompson, the lawyer representing the Collins estate, said he is hoping that the doctored hand wraps will prompt a judge to let the case against New York go forward.
Thompson said the hand wraps were not in question during the first trials, because the focus was on the gloves. Oddly enough Resto was allowed to take the hand wraps with him that night.
Drath said Resto thinks he has the hand wraps in some other boxing memorabilia at a relative's home.
If a judge grants the motion for a new trial, Resto will be at the center of Thompson's case. Thompson said Resto has no motive to lie, because he does not benefit financially from the success of the documentary.
Thompson said an inspector at the time, Patsy Giovanelli, signed off on the gloves even though he wasn't present when Resto's hands were wrapped and the gloves were put on. Inspectors didn't have to be present for those things, but they were responsible for making sure the gloves hadn't been tampered with.
Resto and Lewis did their dirty work out of view of the commission and no one re-checked to make sure that things were above board with the gloves.
Resto said he made the admission because he wanted to unburden himself.
"Yes, I feel better," he said when asked if he was glad he finally told the truth.
Resto said Lewis had applied plaster to the tape in his hand wraps in two other fights. But he said he couldn't recall which fights. He never protested the use of the plaster.
"I said let's go ahead and do it," Resto said.
....LeftyComment
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All of you who are disagreeing are ******.
YoungMoney17 is the authority on the matter.
He is an expert in plaster physics and forensics.
Bow in the presence of greatness.Comment
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You'd think if he really was doin this in all his fights, Marg would have a much higher KO percentage in his wins, and his opponents would all be ruined or permanently injured. This is why I refuse to believe he's made a career habit outta this **** til it's somehow proven unquestionably. Too bad most won't wait so they can form their hateful opinions based on actual facts.Comment
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