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LAS VEGAS -- Antonio Margarito did not have loaded gloves during his 11th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto for the WBA welterweight (147 pounds) title in July 2008 at the MGM Grand here, Nevada State Athletic Commission director Keith Kizer told FanHouse on Wednesday.
"I know that he wasn't rigged during the Cotto fight because we had our inspectors check him out and everything, as did Cotto's people. He was fully checked out," Kizer said of Margarito, who was subsequently found in his very next fight to have an illegal substance in his gloves and suspended from the sport for a year.
"One of our referees, Jay Nady, was back there, we had our inspectors back there. Cotto's guy was back there. They all checked him out and everything was fine," said Kizer.
"They felt the hand wraps and everything, and we have an inspector who I've seen check the hand wraps before, and he checks them out thoroughly," said Kizer. "He watched the hand wraps that night. If you don't have experienced inspectors, you can probably slip something through."
Kizer spoke while attending a press conference promoting Saturday night's clash between 33-year-old Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts) and 38-year-old Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), the latter of whom is coming off of a January 2009 ninth-round knockout of Margarito that dethroned Margarito as WBA titlist.
Within an hour of facing Mosley, however, the 32-year-old Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) was discovered by Mosley's trainer, Brother Naazim Richardson, to have had a plaster-like substance in his gloves, which were wrapped by trainer Javier Capetillo.
The substance was subsequently removed and confiscated prior to the fight, but Margarito was then suspended for a year by the California State Athletic Commission, whose move has been honored by the other boxing commissions nationwide.
"There's nothing that you can do worse than take a guy's license away. Once you do that, he's persona-non-grata," Kizer said of Margarito, whose suspension ended on February 11.
"Margarito could come to Nevada today, apply for a license, and I could give him a license administratively, but I'm not going to do that," said Kizer. "He would have to be placed on our agenda, and that would be up to our chairman. She could put him on it right away, or she could make him wait a while."
Kizer said that he would consider allowing Margarito to fight in Nevada, but only after enduring a hearing before the commission chairman and a panel that would thoroughly review his case.
"Nevada could do one of three things. They could either say, 'Go back to California' first, and until they say 'you've done your time, we're not going to even bother with you,'" said Kizer.
"The second thing is to have a hearing and to say, 'Well, regardless of what other states think, we don't think that you're ready to get back into the ring yet,'" said Kizer. "Or, third, 'We do think that you're ready to get back into the ring, and we're going to give you a license.' And I don't think that California or anyone would see that as any sort of sign of disrespect or not honoring their decision."
Margarito, however, will return to the ring on May 8 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, when he competes in a 10-round junior middleweight (154 pounds) clash against 30-year-old Texas toughman, Roberto "La Amenza" Garcia (28-2, 21 KOs), as the headline to Top Rank Promotion's Latin Fury 14.
Margarito, said Kizer, should return to California to re-apply for a license before attempting to fight anywhere in the United States, although Texas has indicated to Margarito's promoter, Bob Arum, that it might be willing to allow the former champion to fight there.
Arum has said that he would eventually like to match Margarito against seven-time champion, Manny Pacquiao, who is coming off last month's 12-round unanimous decision in defense of his WBO welterweight title at Cowboys' Stadium.
"I would not feel comfortable at this point simply granting Margarito a license to fight here in Nevada," said Kizer. "I would have some questions that he would need to answer from me. And if he doesn't answer them truthfully, then I would recommend not granting a license to him."
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