Can someone explain to this writer why a man who cheated in a way that could have killed another fighter, should get another chance? When Antonio Margarito was busting up the face of Miguel Cotto, everyone at the time was amazed at how dominating that defeat was. Cotto looked like his heart was ripped out of his chest, he looked battered, beaten, and defeated. Then we learned that Margarito had used something in his wraps that turns wraps into plaster. Cotto was being hit by a cast all night and that my friends is not only cheating, but it could have killed him.
If a fighter can’t win based on his own merits and talents, then so be it. To cheat in a manner that could have ended someone’s life? This is not an offense that should warrant any second chance in boxing. Miguel Cotto hasn’t looked the same since that fight against Margarito.
This writer asked several people for their opinion on Antonio Margarito. One such person was none other than the great “Sugar” Shane Mosley. When Shane was asked if he thought if perhaps Margarito didn’t know about the wraps he said, “No way, there is no way that Margarito didn’t know what was up. A fighter knows what is going on his hands before a fight.”
This was the topic that this writer brought to the table on Superbowl Sunday as I toured the city of Jackson, MS. I asked some of the fans in the local sports bars what their thoughts were on the return of Antonio Margarito. As the New Orleans Saints were capturing their first Superbowl Championship, some of the fans weighed in on Margarito. Tom Nelson, a boxing fan from Jackson, Mississippi isn’t happy about it, “This guy not only cheated, but what he did could have killed another fighter. No way should he be allowed to ever step foot inside of the ring again.”
When you compare what Margarito did with what the great baseball player Pete Rose did, you scratch your head. Rose gambled on baseball, yes a bad thing to do. Rose is banned from baseball for life. Rose was not only banned from his sport for life, but he is also banned from ever being elected into the Hall of Fame. What Pete Rose did would not have killed anybody. What Antonio Margarito did could have killed a man.
The problem with boxing is that there is no individual authority that can overrule state commissions. The sport needs one governing body that can vote on such a thing as letting a man return to the sport that cheated. Who cheated in a fashion that could have killed another fighter I might add. Some may say that Margarito deserves another chance. If Miguel Cotto would have been killed, or hurt in a way that impacted his way of life forever, he wouldn’t have had a second chance.
