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Barry: "Margarito knew!"
This fine read is taken from 15rounds:
I wrap my hands five days a week. Most of the time I use 180-inch Mexican-style cotton wraps. Sometimes I lay a terry cloth wristband over the tops of my knuckles first. Occasionally I borrow a pair of the gym’s 175-inch gauze wraps.
Do I notice any difference? Frankly, it’s like having three different pairs of hands.
I am not a professional fighter. But I am able to detect an enormous difference in hand wraps, from general flexibility to the way my hands fit in their gloves. It is unimaginable to me that a pad hardening over my knuckles would go undetected. It is even more of a stretch to believe an already hardened pad could go over my knuckles without my knowing it.
And yet that was the argument from Antonio Margarito’s team Tuesday. Appearing before the California State Athletic Commission about a su****ious substance found on the hand wraps he wore before his fight with Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo said that if there were anything illegal going on, Margarito was oblivious of it.
That testimony was, in the strict sense of the word, unbelievable. CSAC officials certainly didn’t believe it. They voted 7-0 to revoke both men’s licenses. An unconvincing publicity campaign began moments later. It seemed to have two parts. First, Margarito did nothing wrong. Second, he couldn’t have done that same nothing wrong in his July fight with Miguel Cotto because, well, Nevada is less tolerant of nothing than California is.
Look, I like Tony. I hope the CSAC’s lab results find nothing more harmful than sweat and water on his wraps. If they do, I promise to question the commission’s competence with the same rapacity my esteemed former colleague Mike Swann did. But based on how emphatic the vote was Tuesday, I’m guessing more is known than was disclosed at the hearing, and that future evidence will be even more damning.
But until then we deal in hypotheticals. So let us. How much of a physical advantage is it for one man to wear a light cast over the knuckles he strikes another man with? An enormous one. Last week a report came out of the Margarito training camp that went a long way toward justifying trainer Freddie Roach’s recent call for a lifetime ban of both Margarito and Capetillo. Rashad Holloway, a sparring partner, apparently suffered a broken orbital bone in a training session with Margarito – complete with headgear and heavier gloves.
But the mental advantage might be just as great. The belief that, regardless of punching technique, you are going to hurt me with each punch more than I hurt you. It could go a long way towards explaining Margarito’s habit of smiling and nodding as fights progress, couldn’t it?
What we consider a fighter’s chin has three components. One is conditioning. Another is preparedness. A third is some form of self-belief.
Conditioning is essential because a fighter that begins with greater recuperative powers suffers proportionately less each time he is struck. A fighter’s ability to gird for an arriving punch is also important. Then there’s the less tangible element that makes one fighter continue when another falls.
Margarito had fantastic conditioning. At least until his last camp he was known for dietary and behavioral rigor between fights. He was less accomplished at detecting onrushing punches. Though his defense was underrated, most of Margarito’s defensive positioning was a semi-accidental byproduct of a relentless offense. Which brings us to self-belief.
No one ringside for Margarito-Cotto didn’t wonder at Margarito’s perseverance. Most of the first half of the fight was a picture of futility for him. But his posture was more defiant when the seventh round began than it had been in the first. He knew, with the sort of conviction most of us never feel, that his punches were inflicting disproportionately more damage than Cotto’s were – the same Cotto punches that had knocked out more than 80 percent of Cotto’s previous opponents.
Who that heard the nature of the hand-wrap accusations against Margarito didn’t immediately think of Cotto’s face and head in July? If you just answered “not me,” friend, you’re not being honest.
And who that felt euphoria for Margarito’s vindication that night isn’t still in a bit of shock over what has transpired since? First the rumors of massive weight-gain. Then the petulant negotiations with his promoter. Then the doctored hand wraps announcement as the opening bell rang against Mosley. Then the brutal knockout loss. Then the suspension. Then the lack of contrition. Finally the revocation of his license.
After climbing legacy’s mountain one small, decisive step at a time for 14 years, Margarito hopped on a fire pole and took the quickest downward route possible.
Will the Mexicans forgive him? Possibly not. They love an underdog. They love their countrymen. They cheer their heroes with an innocent devotion. But they hate a cheater. Their fighters apologize to opponents immediately after infractions because cheating says one thing that is unthinkable to a Mexican prizefighter: “I can’t beat you honestly.” But once Mexico’s trust is squandered, it doesn’t return.
Will Americans forgive Margarito? Not a chance. Figures like Mike Tyson have already cast boxing in too harsh a light for any missteps to be overlooked. American fans, now that the allegation is public, will march back through each of Margarito’s defining moments, uncovering – justly or not – evidence of a career of broken rules.
After what he did to Cotto and Kermit Cintron, Margarito shouldn’t plan any trips to Puerto Rico either. He’s probably better off in the comparative safety of his native Tijuana.
What we don’t yet know is the lasting effect this sort of thing takes on sports fans in general. So many recent legends are frauds. Let’s keep hoping the lab results discredit the allegations. But if they don’t, we owe it to ourselves and future fans not to be apologists.
Don’t make light of this.
I wrap my hands five days a week. Most of the time I use 180-inch Mexican-style cotton wraps. Sometimes I lay a terry cloth wristband over the tops of my knuckles first. Occasionally I borrow a pair of the gym’s 175-inch gauze wraps.
Do I notice any difference? Frankly, it’s like having three different pairs of hands.
I am not a professional fighter. But I am able to detect an enormous difference in hand wraps, from general flexibility to the way my hands fit in their gloves. It is unimaginable to me that a pad hardening over my knuckles would go undetected. It is even more of a stretch to believe an already hardened pad could go over my knuckles without my knowing it.
And yet that was the argument from Antonio Margarito’s team Tuesday. Appearing before the California State Athletic Commission about a su****ious substance found on the hand wraps he wore before his fight with Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo said that if there were anything illegal going on, Margarito was oblivious of it.
That testimony was, in the strict sense of the word, unbelievable. CSAC officials certainly didn’t believe it. They voted 7-0 to revoke both men’s licenses. An unconvincing publicity campaign began moments later. It seemed to have two parts. First, Margarito did nothing wrong. Second, he couldn’t have done that same nothing wrong in his July fight with Miguel Cotto because, well, Nevada is less tolerant of nothing than California is.
Look, I like Tony. I hope the CSAC’s lab results find nothing more harmful than sweat and water on his wraps. If they do, I promise to question the commission’s competence with the same rapacity my esteemed former colleague Mike Swann did. But based on how emphatic the vote was Tuesday, I’m guessing more is known than was disclosed at the hearing, and that future evidence will be even more damning.
But until then we deal in hypotheticals. So let us. How much of a physical advantage is it for one man to wear a light cast over the knuckles he strikes another man with? An enormous one. Last week a report came out of the Margarito training camp that went a long way toward justifying trainer Freddie Roach’s recent call for a lifetime ban of both Margarito and Capetillo. Rashad Holloway, a sparring partner, apparently suffered a broken orbital bone in a training session with Margarito – complete with headgear and heavier gloves.
But the mental advantage might be just as great. The belief that, regardless of punching technique, you are going to hurt me with each punch more than I hurt you. It could go a long way towards explaining Margarito’s habit of smiling and nodding as fights progress, couldn’t it?
What we consider a fighter’s chin has three components. One is conditioning. Another is preparedness. A third is some form of self-belief.
Conditioning is essential because a fighter that begins with greater recuperative powers suffers proportionately less each time he is struck. A fighter’s ability to gird for an arriving punch is also important. Then there’s the less tangible element that makes one fighter continue when another falls.
Margarito had fantastic conditioning. At least until his last camp he was known for dietary and behavioral rigor between fights. He was less accomplished at detecting onrushing punches. Though his defense was underrated, most of Margarito’s defensive positioning was a semi-accidental byproduct of a relentless offense. Which brings us to self-belief.
No one ringside for Margarito-Cotto didn’t wonder at Margarito’s perseverance. Most of the first half of the fight was a picture of futility for him. But his posture was more defiant when the seventh round began than it had been in the first. He knew, with the sort of conviction most of us never feel, that his punches were inflicting disproportionately more damage than Cotto’s were – the same Cotto punches that had knocked out more than 80 percent of Cotto’s previous opponents.
Who that heard the nature of the hand-wrap accusations against Margarito didn’t immediately think of Cotto’s face and head in July? If you just answered “not me,” friend, you’re not being honest.
And who that felt euphoria for Margarito’s vindication that night isn’t still in a bit of shock over what has transpired since? First the rumors of massive weight-gain. Then the petulant negotiations with his promoter. Then the doctored hand wraps announcement as the opening bell rang against Mosley. Then the brutal knockout loss. Then the suspension. Then the lack of contrition. Finally the revocation of his license.
After climbing legacy’s mountain one small, decisive step at a time for 14 years, Margarito hopped on a fire pole and took the quickest downward route possible.
Will the Mexicans forgive him? Possibly not. They love an underdog. They love their countrymen. They cheer their heroes with an innocent devotion. But they hate a cheater. Their fighters apologize to opponents immediately after infractions because cheating says one thing that is unthinkable to a Mexican prizefighter: “I can’t beat you honestly.” But once Mexico’s trust is squandered, it doesn’t return.
Will Americans forgive Margarito? Not a chance. Figures like Mike Tyson have already cast boxing in too harsh a light for any missteps to be overlooked. American fans, now that the allegation is public, will march back through each of Margarito’s defining moments, uncovering – justly or not – evidence of a career of broken rules.
After what he did to Cotto and Kermit Cintron, Margarito shouldn’t plan any trips to Puerto Rico either. He’s probably better off in the comparative safety of his native Tijuana.
What we don’t yet know is the lasting effect this sort of thing takes on sports fans in general. So many recent legends are frauds. Let’s keep hoping the lab results discredit the allegations. But if they don’t, we owe it to ourselves and future fans not to be apologists.
Don’t make light of this.
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