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From his mailbag today:
I agree that some members of the media are going overboard with their condemnation of Margarito, but it should be expected and there are a few reasons for this. First and foremost what was done to his wraps was a reprehensible act. Mosley could have been maimed or killed if those inserts weren’t discovered by Naazim Richardson, so most boxing writers are going to be very emotional when they write about Margarito and his career. No. 2 until the Cotto fight Margarito was never really well received by the majority of the boxing media. The thought was that he was an average tough Mexican with good conditioning and that’s what most members of the fight press wrote and said about him. If anything he was a pain in the ass because of mouthy West Coast internet writers like Steve Kim and I. When many in the boxing media wanted to anoint Floyd Mayweather as the second coming of Sugar Ray Leonard, writers like Kim and I pointed out that “Money” turned down career-high bucks and even gave up cash to avoid the Mexican. This pissed a lot of East Coast and mainstream guys off. (I don’t know why, but it did.) However, despite setbacks like the Paul Williams loss, Margarito would not go away and he proved a lot of people wrong with the Cotto victory (including me). Let’s face it, most folks in this business hate to be wrong. So when Cappy got caught, it was like all the negative stuff they said about Margarito for years were suddenly proved right and their predictions for the Cotto fight no longer counted. And with the egos in this business, you had to know that they were going to say and write it over and over again that every recent Margarito victory is now in question if not null and void.
I tell you something else -- and I’m probably the only boxing writer with the balls to admit this -- the fact that MaxBoxing's "K9" was a big Margarito supporter only made things worse for the Mexican mauler when the s__t hit the fan. I’ve known Steve for years, I consider him a friend, and I have the utmost respect for him and his writing, but the Korean Hammer is not the friendliest person out there. He’s a brutally honest guy who calls things as he sees them and he’s got an attitude that rubs A LOT of fellow boxing media the wrong the way. Nobody will admit to this, but I think when Margarito took a fall, a lot boxing writers viewed it as a chance to get some digs in at Kim and thus they gave Margarito a few extra kicks on his way down, if you know what I mean.
Heck, I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know. I’m sure plenty of fans have given Kim a ton of s__t since this whole wrap-gate began. (My guess is that it didn’t help that Steve wrote an article titled “Cheat-o Trinidad?” following Felix Trinidad’s hand-wrap scandal right after the Bernard Hopkins fight.)
Anyway, I have no problem with any fan or boxing writer questioning every Margarito victory prior to the Mosley fight as long as they put an asterisk by every win of Mosley’s prior to his rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. It’s only fair.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that a dimwit like Capetillo was able to consistently pull the wool over the eyes of supposedly experienced commission inspectors of California, Nevada and New Jersey for the past 10 fights.
But by no means am I disagreeing with anyone who thinks Capetillo and Margarito had tampered with the wraps before the Mosley fight.
The way Cotto’s face was busted up by the end of their fight makes me wonder if Margarito had the “special” gauze (the ones that Cappy mixed) in his wraps for that fight. I’d never seen Cotto chopped up like that before, but then again, I’d never seen him eat so many uppercuts before.
I don’t believe Margarito’s wraps were loaded for the Cintron fights. I don’t blame Cintron for thinking that they were. That’s only natural for a guy who’s used to knocking fools out and hasn’t lost to any other fighter. However, Margarito never really hit him with clean power shots in the first fight. Cintron mentally imploded in that one. There were more solid exchanges in the rematch but Cintron landed the hardest punches and his face didn’t cut or bust up at all. Cintron later said he’d never been hit like that before, which some folks see as evidence that the TJT had loaded mitts but when you go life-and-death with David Estrada and get stressed to your limits against Jesse Feliciano my guess is that Margarito is going to seem like King Kong.
Regarding Margarito’s future, I agree that he should just stay out of the ring for a year (he needs the rest) and then try to get reinstated in California. I don’ t think the CSAC is going to give him a break, but if they do, I think he can make for some good fights at welterweight or junior middleweight (Berto, Clottey, Angulo, and Kirkland would all be fun bouts). If he can’t get his license back, I think he’ll slowly drift out of our consciousness fighting the likes of a fat and faded Jose Luis Castillo and a shot Carlos Baldomir in Mexico. I don’t see him fighting anyone of not in Europe. They don’t need him unless they think he’s shot and even if he’s not faded I don’t think he can handle the size and style of those European-based middleweights. Even Felix Sturm, who stank it out (but still should have won vs. De La Hoya) would give Margarito problems with this stick-and-move, and switch-hitting tactics. Arthur Abraham would beat him up a lot worse than Mosley did. Daniel Santos will always be a difficult fight for Margz, and Sergio Martinez is a lot better than when they fought nine years ago.
Dougie can be reached at dougiefischer@yahoo.com
I agree that some members of the media are going overboard with their condemnation of Margarito, but it should be expected and there are a few reasons for this. First and foremost what was done to his wraps was a reprehensible act. Mosley could have been maimed or killed if those inserts weren’t discovered by Naazim Richardson, so most boxing writers are going to be very emotional when they write about Margarito and his career. No. 2 until the Cotto fight Margarito was never really well received by the majority of the boxing media. The thought was that he was an average tough Mexican with good conditioning and that’s what most members of the fight press wrote and said about him. If anything he was a pain in the ass because of mouthy West Coast internet writers like Steve Kim and I. When many in the boxing media wanted to anoint Floyd Mayweather as the second coming of Sugar Ray Leonard, writers like Kim and I pointed out that “Money” turned down career-high bucks and even gave up cash to avoid the Mexican. This pissed a lot of East Coast and mainstream guys off. (I don’t know why, but it did.) However, despite setbacks like the Paul Williams loss, Margarito would not go away and he proved a lot of people wrong with the Cotto victory (including me). Let’s face it, most folks in this business hate to be wrong. So when Cappy got caught, it was like all the negative stuff they said about Margarito for years were suddenly proved right and their predictions for the Cotto fight no longer counted. And with the egos in this business, you had to know that they were going to say and write it over and over again that every recent Margarito victory is now in question if not null and void.
I tell you something else -- and I’m probably the only boxing writer with the balls to admit this -- the fact that MaxBoxing's "K9" was a big Margarito supporter only made things worse for the Mexican mauler when the s__t hit the fan. I’ve known Steve for years, I consider him a friend, and I have the utmost respect for him and his writing, but the Korean Hammer is not the friendliest person out there. He’s a brutally honest guy who calls things as he sees them and he’s got an attitude that rubs A LOT of fellow boxing media the wrong the way. Nobody will admit to this, but I think when Margarito took a fall, a lot boxing writers viewed it as a chance to get some digs in at Kim and thus they gave Margarito a few extra kicks on his way down, if you know what I mean.
Heck, I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know. I’m sure plenty of fans have given Kim a ton of s__t since this whole wrap-gate began. (My guess is that it didn’t help that Steve wrote an article titled “Cheat-o Trinidad?” following Felix Trinidad’s hand-wrap scandal right after the Bernard Hopkins fight.)
Anyway, I have no problem with any fan or boxing writer questioning every Margarito victory prior to the Mosley fight as long as they put an asterisk by every win of Mosley’s prior to his rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. It’s only fair.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that a dimwit like Capetillo was able to consistently pull the wool over the eyes of supposedly experienced commission inspectors of California, Nevada and New Jersey for the past 10 fights.
But by no means am I disagreeing with anyone who thinks Capetillo and Margarito had tampered with the wraps before the Mosley fight.
The way Cotto’s face was busted up by the end of their fight makes me wonder if Margarito had the “special” gauze (the ones that Cappy mixed) in his wraps for that fight. I’d never seen Cotto chopped up like that before, but then again, I’d never seen him eat so many uppercuts before.
I don’t believe Margarito’s wraps were loaded for the Cintron fights. I don’t blame Cintron for thinking that they were. That’s only natural for a guy who’s used to knocking fools out and hasn’t lost to any other fighter. However, Margarito never really hit him with clean power shots in the first fight. Cintron mentally imploded in that one. There were more solid exchanges in the rematch but Cintron landed the hardest punches and his face didn’t cut or bust up at all. Cintron later said he’d never been hit like that before, which some folks see as evidence that the TJT had loaded mitts but when you go life-and-death with David Estrada and get stressed to your limits against Jesse Feliciano my guess is that Margarito is going to seem like King Kong.
Regarding Margarito’s future, I agree that he should just stay out of the ring for a year (he needs the rest) and then try to get reinstated in California. I don’ t think the CSAC is going to give him a break, but if they do, I think he can make for some good fights at welterweight or junior middleweight (Berto, Clottey, Angulo, and Kirkland would all be fun bouts). If he can’t get his license back, I think he’ll slowly drift out of our consciousness fighting the likes of a fat and faded Jose Luis Castillo and a shot Carlos Baldomir in Mexico. I don’t see him fighting anyone of not in Europe. They don’t need him unless they think he’s shot and even if he’s not faded I don’t think he can handle the size and style of those European-based middleweights. Even Felix Sturm, who stank it out (but still should have won vs. De La Hoya) would give Margarito problems with this stick-and-move, and switch-hitting tactics. Arthur Abraham would beat him up a lot worse than Mosley did. Daniel Santos will always be a difficult fight for Margz, and Sergio Martinez is a lot better than when they fought nine years ago.
Dougie can be reached at dougiefischer@yahoo.com
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