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Roach: Life Ban For Margarito If Guilty
By Michael Woods
Acclaimed trainer Freddie Roach is on the record. If the California commission finds that Antonio Margarito did indeed use illegal hand wraps, and that he did so with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage against Shane Mosley on Jan. 24 in California, Roach says that the Mexican hitter and his trainer Javier Capetillo, who oversaw the hand wrapping, should be banned from the sport for life.
Roach offered his preferred sentence during an interview with Brian Kenny, on Kenny’s new ESPN radio show, and the statement was replayed on ESPN’s Friday Night fights. Roach said that he’d come across “loaded” hand wraps when his man Manny Pacquiao fought Marco Antonio Barrera the first time in 2003, in Texas. Roach said he saw Barrera’s hands wrapped with material used to form a cast, which looks like regulation gauze, but becomes rock-hard when wetted. Roach was able to get the Barrera people to junk the material he says was suspect.
Kenny asked Roach what the penalty should be if Margarito and his trainer used casting material for hand wraps. “They should be banned from boxing for life,” he said. “Just like Luis Resto and Panama Lewis. And maybe do some time because it’s a serious charge.” Roach also said that a boxer from his gym suffered a broken orbital bone during sparring with Margarito, and was told that Margarito uses tainted wraps in training also, “to protect his hands.”
Serious charges from Roach, whose reputation in the game is darn near flawless. Margarito will state his case on the matter, with his trainer, to the Ca. commission on Feb. 10. One would expect that lawyers, representing any number of fighters, will be following this hearing and further developments closely. Because if Margarito did use casting material, and this wasn’t an isolated incident, boxers who has beaten, and knocked out, could possibly lodge a civil complaint against him, arguing that their livelihood was compromised by his illegal behavior. That is speculation at this point, of course.
By Michael Woods
Acclaimed trainer Freddie Roach is on the record. If the California commission finds that Antonio Margarito did indeed use illegal hand wraps, and that he did so with the intention of gaining an unfair advantage against Shane Mosley on Jan. 24 in California, Roach says that the Mexican hitter and his trainer Javier Capetillo, who oversaw the hand wrapping, should be banned from the sport for life.
Roach offered his preferred sentence during an interview with Brian Kenny, on Kenny’s new ESPN radio show, and the statement was replayed on ESPN’s Friday Night fights. Roach said that he’d come across “loaded” hand wraps when his man Manny Pacquiao fought Marco Antonio Barrera the first time in 2003, in Texas. Roach said he saw Barrera’s hands wrapped with material used to form a cast, which looks like regulation gauze, but becomes rock-hard when wetted. Roach was able to get the Barrera people to junk the material he says was suspect.
Kenny asked Roach what the penalty should be if Margarito and his trainer used casting material for hand wraps. “They should be banned from boxing for life,” he said. “Just like Luis Resto and Panama Lewis. And maybe do some time because it’s a serious charge.” Roach also said that a boxer from his gym suffered a broken orbital bone during sparring with Margarito, and was told that Margarito uses tainted wraps in training also, “to protect his hands.”
Serious charges from Roach, whose reputation in the game is darn near flawless. Margarito will state his case on the matter, with his trainer, to the Ca. commission on Feb. 10. One would expect that lawyers, representing any number of fighters, will be following this hearing and further developments closely. Because if Margarito did use casting material, and this wasn’t an isolated incident, boxers who has beaten, and knocked out, could possibly lodge a civil complaint against him, arguing that their livelihood was compromised by his illegal behavior. That is speculation at this point, of course.
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