Margarito’s Wraps Contained Plaster of Paris
↵What shreds were left of Antonio Margarito’s reputation were torn away today as a report emerged in the L.A. Times that the hand-wraps confiscated from the fighter prior to his January 24th bout with Shane Mosley contained both calcium and sulfur, the two main ingredients of Plaster of Paris.
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↵This is not just another unsubstantiated rumor, either. The L.A. Times reports this news from documents obtained from a California Department of Justice inquiry into the matter. ↵Both Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, received year-long suspensions from the California State Athletic Commission at a hearing in February after neither man offered a credible defense for the presence of hard, plaster-like substances discovered in the fighter’s wraps before the Mosley fight. ↵
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↵Today’s revelation moves rampant speculation about the exact nature of the incident into the realm of certainty. Capetillo’s only explanation for the situation was that he put the offending pieces into Margarito’s wraps by mistake. It was a feeble excuse, and now we know it was a shamefaced lie, because the elements of Plaster of Paris don’t simply manifest themselves due to an error in judgment.
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↵This was a deliberate, pre-meditated attempt to cheat that amounts to attempting assault with deadly weapons. ↵We can now assume that Capetillo will have his license revoked permanently in the U.S., and one wonders if Margarito will be facing the same fate. His only defense has been one of ignorance, claiming that he had no idea what Capetillo was inserting into his wraps and should not be punished for his trainer’s crimes. Just about everybody I’ve talked to in the game, fighters and trainers alike, have told me that’s a complete crock, because every fighter knows exactly what’s on his hands when he goes into a fight. ↵
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↵Whatever becomes of his license, however, one thing is now certain as far as Margarito is concerned: Every one of his previous victories, most notably his epic defeat of Miguel Cotto last July, is tarnished in the eyes of the boxing public. No one will ever speak of him again without wondering how many of his great wins were aided by loaded gloves. His entire career is one big asterisk now, and unlike his license, that’s something that he can never get back. ↵
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↵Don King Files Protest on Behalf of Barrera. ↵Don King has protested the results of many fights in his long career, but this may be the first time that he’s been in the right. King has filed an official protest to the British Boxing Board of Control, along with the WBO and the WBA, making the case that the Amir Khan/Marco Antonio Barrera fight on March 14th in Manchester, England should have been stopped and ruled a no-contest due to a grisly cut suffered by Barrera after an accidental clash of heads in the first round. ↵
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↵As I vehemently argued right here at TSB, I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. Barrera’s cut was one of the worst, if not the worst, that I’ve ever seen in a fight. The frickin’ thing took 33 stitches to close – what more do you need to know? The fact that he was forced to fight through that to the fifth round so that Khan could be awarded a bogus victory was not only an outrage – it was borderline criminal. Here’s hoping that somebody steps up and makes right on this debacle by stripping Khan of the win, calling the fight an NC in retrospect and ordering a rematch.↵
↵
↵
↵
↵This is not just another unsubstantiated rumor, either. The L.A. Times reports this news from documents obtained from a California Department of Justice inquiry into the matter. ↵Both Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, received year-long suspensions from the California State Athletic Commission at a hearing in February after neither man offered a credible defense for the presence of hard, plaster-like substances discovered in the fighter’s wraps before the Mosley fight. ↵
↵
↵Today’s revelation moves rampant speculation about the exact nature of the incident into the realm of certainty. Capetillo’s only explanation for the situation was that he put the offending pieces into Margarito’s wraps by mistake. It was a feeble excuse, and now we know it was a shamefaced lie, because the elements of Plaster of Paris don’t simply manifest themselves due to an error in judgment.
↵
↵This was a deliberate, pre-meditated attempt to cheat that amounts to attempting assault with deadly weapons. ↵We can now assume that Capetillo will have his license revoked permanently in the U.S., and one wonders if Margarito will be facing the same fate. His only defense has been one of ignorance, claiming that he had no idea what Capetillo was inserting into his wraps and should not be punished for his trainer’s crimes. Just about everybody I’ve talked to in the game, fighters and trainers alike, have told me that’s a complete crock, because every fighter knows exactly what’s on his hands when he goes into a fight. ↵
↵
↵Whatever becomes of his license, however, one thing is now certain as far as Margarito is concerned: Every one of his previous victories, most notably his epic defeat of Miguel Cotto last July, is tarnished in the eyes of the boxing public. No one will ever speak of him again without wondering how many of his great wins were aided by loaded gloves. His entire career is one big asterisk now, and unlike his license, that’s something that he can never get back. ↵
↵
↵Don King Files Protest on Behalf of Barrera. ↵Don King has protested the results of many fights in his long career, but this may be the first time that he’s been in the right. King has filed an official protest to the British Boxing Board of Control, along with the WBO and the WBA, making the case that the Amir Khan/Marco Antonio Barrera fight on March 14th in Manchester, England should have been stopped and ruled a no-contest due to a grisly cut suffered by Barrera after an accidental clash of heads in the first round. ↵
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↵As I vehemently argued right here at TSB, I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. Barrera’s cut was one of the worst, if not the worst, that I’ve ever seen in a fight. The frickin’ thing took 33 stitches to close – what more do you need to know? The fact that he was forced to fight through that to the fifth round so that Khan could be awarded a bogus victory was not only an outrage – it was borderline criminal. Here’s hoping that somebody steps up and makes right on this debacle by stripping Khan of the win, calling the fight an NC in retrospect and ordering a rematch.↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.