LOS ANGELES? Staples Center, home of the LA Lakers NBA basketball team, is no stranger to landmark occasions. However, the events of January 24, 2009 created the sort of publicity that boxing, and sport in general, could do without.
The conundrum posed by Antonio Margarito?s return (May 8 in Aguascalientes, Mexico) is a complex one and has nothing to do with his undeniable boxing ability and everything to do with what was concealed in his handwraps that night.
Luckily Nazim Richardson, the trainer of Margarito?s opponent that night, Shane Mosley, was far more alert than the hapless California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) inspectors, employed to observe any potential misdemeanours. The illegal hardened plaster pads uncovered at Richardson?s insistence hardly inspires confidence in the CSAC. How the wrapping process was allowed to commence without one of Mosley?s representatives present is another damning indictment on the sport?s nonchalant regulators.
Surely the time has come to settle this shambles once and for all. ESPN Analyst and ex-trainer, Teddy Atlas thinks an overhaul is long overdue, stating ?This is why boxing needs a national commission, national conformity to one set of regulations and the power to enforce them.? Given that these are hardly isolated incidents of incompetence, it is a justifiable argument, even if unlikely to succeed. The Nevada State Athletic Commission proved equally inept when dealing with Mike Tyson?s carnivorous tendencies in the infamous Evander Holyfield rematch in June 1997. Although Tyson was fined $3 million, 10 per cent of his purse, his licence revocation was lifted in October 1998, hardly retribution for biting off part of Holyfield?s right ear and gnawing away on the other.
However, the commission specialises in glaring inconsistencies. In 1997, the same commission fined Oliver McCall $250,000 and suspended him for a year as punishment for his bizarre refusal to defend himself against Lennox Lewis during their WBC heavyweight title rematch in February. With such depraved leniency on the one hand, and nonsensical harshness on the other, it is easy to see why Margarito?s case has proved problematic.
The larger issue is what happens now. Margarito and his (now ex) trainer, Javier Capetillo were both suspended for at least a year by the California Commission, a sanction adhered to by all United States jurisdictions. Although there were threats by Margarito?s promoter, Bob Arum, to fight in Mexico during this period, wisely, these were not acted upon.
Arum had planned to ease his charge back against American journeyman, Carson Jones, in March on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard at Cowboys Stadium. Fortunately, common sense prevailed as Margarito?s application was denied and a hearing called to decide the matter. Although not compulsory, a fighter should seek the renewal of his licence in the offending jurisdiction before fighting elsewhere.
Arum still harbours ambitions to match Margarito (37-6) with his Filipino star pupil, Pacquiao, at Cowboys Stadium should the latter?s showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jnr not materialise. Alternatively, the Mexican may face the winner of Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman after their historic June 5 clash at Yankee Stadium.
But why should anyone share a ring with this cheating Mexican? It does raise the ugly possibility that the Mosley incident was not an isolated one. What should we now make of Margarito?s six-round destruction of the formidable Kermit Cintron in April 2008, and the terrible beating he dished out a few months later to the previously undefeated Cotto? Is it purely a coincidence that he fought so poorly against Mosley, or was it the fact that his gloves were definitely clean this time?
These are questions that boxing must address, as boxers? lives literally depend on it. The bludgeoning that the Puerto Rican received bears an unwanted resemblance to a past tragedy. Last summer HBO aired Assault in the Ring, a documentary recounting the beating that the young Irish-American Billy Collins Jnr suffered at the hands of Luis Resto in Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1983. Resto and his trainer, Panama Lewis, went to prison after it was discovered padding had been removed from both gloves and that the handwraps had been plastered. This was a criminal assault ? not boxing. Due to a torn left iris, Collins Jnr?s vision was permanently impaired. With his career over, he spiralled out of control and only nine months later he was dead, aged just 22.
Although the evidence leading up to the Mosley fight is purely circumstantial, it makes for chilling reading. In such circumstances, permanent banishment is warranted despite its vindictive finality. Boxing cannot afford such parasitic influences. It is the pair?s (Arum and Margarito) refusal to show any remorse that is most sickening. ?As far as Antonio is concerned, enough is enough,? according to Arum. Maybe as an ex-lawyer for the Justice Department, Arum is used to people swallowing his cock and bull excuses. Unfortunately for him, the boxing public are not so gullible.
