by Rik Hine – According to several recent reports, Antonio Margarito is set to return to the ring this March, on the under card of the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, a year after having had his license revoked. Margarito’s ban stemmed from being caught with pads, soaked in a plaster-of-paris like substance, hidden beneath his hand wraps shortly before he was due to fight Shane Mosley. Nazim Richardson, Mosley’s trainer first sounded the alarm and the California State Athletic Commission’s inspector consequently found the pads and had them removed. Margarito’s hands were re-wrapped, and many will consider the subsequent nearly nine-round beating he received from Mosley to be some form of Platonic justice..
Obviously we have no evidence that Margarito, who cowardly claimed ignorance about the presence of the pads, had ever fought with such ‘accessories’ before, but we’re free to speculate. And such speculation should throw into doubt the status of his previous major ring successes in addition to making us wonder why he’s been allowed to box ever again.
It’s no small matter to promote doing away with a man’s primary mode of making a living. But Margarito was willing to subject Mosley to such a risk and this suggests that he doesn’t share my feelings. So surely we should return the favour and refuse to watch him fight on. We may not be able to stop his reinstatement but we don’t have to pay his wages.
It seems to me that a lifetime ban is the only fitting punishment for Margarito’s blatantly immoral actions. The California State Athletic Commission clearly doesn’t agree and we can’t count on the promoters to do the right thing. Bob Arum, an advocate of Margarito, stated after the suspension was handed down that he’d arrange for Margarito to fight in his native Mexico, outside the jurisdiction of the US ban. That didn’t actually happen and Arum now has the temerity to suggest that this should be seen as a positive factor in any decision to formally reinstate Margarito’s US boxing license. Mind you, if the chances of reinstatement were actually in any doubt it’s unlikely that Margarito would have already exchanged contracts with his next opponent, Carson Jones.
Finally, it will be interesting to see whether or not Javier Capetillo, Margarito’s disgraced trainer, will also be reinstated. But not half as interesting as finding out if he is still Margarito’s main-man. Capetillo claimed sole responsibility for the attempted subterfuge. If that claim were true, then one would presume that Margarito had crossed him off his Christmas card list. If ‘Tony’ steps up to the ring apron in March and spits into a bucket held by Capetillo then that’s one in the eye for us too. And the next morning, the face of boxing will look worse than that of Carson Jones.
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