On the heels of a 2008 campaign that saw several marquee showdowns which included the highest grossing fight in history, (Mayweather/De la Hoya), the year of 2009 was set to reach uncharted heights for the sport of boxing. The lead-off event (Berto/Collazo) which featured two unfamiliar faces produced what many viewed as very familiar results, ending in more questions than answers. Despite the rough start, the sport later learned an opportunity loss can also serve as an opportunity gained, as only days later, the spotlight beaming on the sport would shine bright……or so we thought. On the evening of January 24th, the Los Angeles Staples Center saw its attendance record shattered. Not because LeBron James and Shaq came to town to square off against Kobe Bryant, and not because the ‘Magic’ Johnson and Pat Riley led ‘Showtime’ Lakers were set to square off against Larry Bird and the Celtics. On this particular night, it was all about boxing, and leading the way was one of the sports pre-eminent forces, ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, squaring off against Mexico’s latest assassin, the rugged Antonio Margarito. Among all the predictions and possibilities posed by fight fans and media socialites, there were a ton of potential outcomes with a chance to play themselves out by nights end. Hours later, the events that began to unfold were clearly more bizarre than anyone involved could have ever imagined, turning an L.A. fairy-tale into simply another Hollywood horror script..
Moments before the two men were to enter the ring, head trainer of Mosley, Nazim Richardson, took a routine task and turned it into a seminal moment that would later pay dividends for his fighter, and subsequently take many away from the opponent. What was buried between the gloves and the padding of Margarito’s gloves that night were traces of a substance that was never meant to play a role in the sport, evidenced by the few occasions it became present in the past which left ghostly stories filled with pain, and even death. In the aftermath, as the days went by and the smoke began to clear, the alibi’s stacked up like pancakes and despite the fight world’s hunger for the truth, there’s no coincidence that few have been inclined to eat them up. A glimpse at Margarito’s life paints a portrait which borders both pain and promise. Desperate for destiny and hardened from hunger, this 15 year old boy set out to be a man by entering the ring to help feed his family. Sounds nice in theory, but a deeper look at him revealed that his outside didn’t look like what was within…..forcing an ending that wouldn’t go like his story began. Some may view the act of calling this the “end” for him premature, but whether he is allowed to step back in the ring or not, the one thing we learn to be true more and more is that the court of public opinion contains a jury that is no longer out. Not only has that jury come to a decision, but if most could have it their way, the results of that decision would come swift and firm.
Javier Capetillo, Margarito’s trainer at the time, has been banished from the sport; but to those who study the now dimming career of Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, it’s easy to feel that perhaps Margarito should be on the outside looking in as well. The reality in this matter is that none of us know if Margarito was in fact ‘loaded’ on the night of his fight with Cotto. But what we do know is that rarely in the history of the sport have any of us witnessed such a brutal, savage destruction of an opponent. If such an effort was pure, it makes one wonder why Margarito failed to be so dominant at his peak in the sport? That answer probably lies somewhere within his patented inconsistencies. Some for the better, others for the worst. One night he literally rips the ear of a tough Sebastian LuJuan off in the ring with a blind passion for victory; another night he looks rather passive against a shaken-down-the-stretch Paul Williams. One day he sponsors charitable events in his native Tijuana; the next night he’s begging a man who he just battered to get up from the deck so he can batter him some more. Each of these inconsistent acts contradict the other and somewhere in between is the identity of a man whose (identity) can no longer be mistaken. The human side of me says somewhere buried beneath that sly grin and rugged mentality is a man who needs to feed his family. Reality says placed on top of that surface was a concealed weapon that was carefully placed there for a reason. The human side of me pleads that we give Margarito a second chance to dance. Reality reminds me that few in life ever get this grand opportunity to get ONE ticket to success punched…..therefore, my operative question……What has he truly done to deserve the chance to get two? Think about it!
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, 954-292-7346, YouTube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEK747, Facebook and Myspace).