Antonio Margarito comments: ?I?m here to answer the questions. I want to to apologize to you the commission and the boxing world for not knowing what was in the wrappings. When I was in Nevada I also apologized. I?m throwing myself at the mercy of the court. I want to ask for this opportunity. I will not let this happen again. In fact, I?m very happy this happened. I would not have gone into the ring if I knew my hands were wrapped in the manner that they were. From now on, I will be on top of what needs to be done because ultimately, I?m responsible for what happens. During this whole time I?ve been training and conditioning in Tijuana. I?ve been helping children with cancer. I?ve been helping moms with cancer, kids with mental disabilities. I?ve even been playing baseball to raise funds to help kids with cancer.?
There are times when Manny Pacquiao promoter shows the acting talents of Al Pacino.
But, usually, the 78 year old wears his emotions on his sleeves or, more accurately, on those puffy, squirrel like cheeks of his.
When the cheeks are rosy red, you can bet that Uncle Bob is delighted by or amused by something.
When the cheeks are flattened, that’s his mask of tragedy or sadness.
I did not have the benefit of Phone-O-Vision when I spoke to the Top Rank honcho moments ago so I don’t know what the cheeks were showing, if anything, but I can tell you he sounded dejected and depressed even though he employed a small bit of gallows humor.
In the wake of this shocking hearing result, I give Arum credit for even picking up the phone. But he did so, like an old general trying to explain a losing battle.
The California State Athletic Commission rejected Antonio Margarito’s application to be relicensed as a boxer and thus Arum’s long planned Nov. 13 Maragrito-Pacman bout is thrown into what may be complete turmoil.
Evdiently, five of six CSAC commissioners viewed the Margarito “mea culpa” as being too little, too late and, coupled with his idotic insistence on appealing their one year suspension as being an indicator of something other than any real remorse.
I asked Arum if he would drag ?Margocheato??who the five Cali commissioners did not feel was sufficiently contrite about getting caught trying to use illegal handwraps with tainited knuckle inserts before his bout with Shane Mosley in Los Angeles?to the more friendly Lone Star State where Cowboys stadium and team owner Jerry Jones might throw his considerable weight around.
?We’ll do what we have to do,? Arum said.
I asked him if thought the vote would be closer, either way.
Arum understandably got testy with me.
?We didn’t think we could win here,? Arum said. ?We got one vote. Do you think we thought we’d only get one vote??
It goes down as a disastrous defeat for Margarito, for Arum and for the high priced Hollywood lawyer he had as executing the battle plan, Daniel Petrocelli.
Petrocelli whipped OJ Simpson, it is fact, in a civil lawsuit where he represented the family of Simpson’s brutally murdered wife.
But, in this boxing bout, Petrocelli was TKO’d by the commission.
I’ll have more on this Little Bighorn type rout later but the question must be asked now, why didn’t the normally shrewd and always careful have a suitable on deck circle opponent for Pacquiao?
I don’t think a rehash of Pacman’s assault on Miguel Cotto excites anyone except maybe the Puerto Rican battler.
So what’s the venue for Nov. 13?
Who’s the opponent, does Margarito get dumped or does Arum use his and Jones’ connections to try to convince Texas to ignore the California decision?
Remember, Arum had already dumped Monterey, Mexico, as a possible site.
Nevada was looking for Margarito to get the greenlight from neighboring California so you can forget Pacman against the controverisa Mexican mauler in Las Vegas. Don’t forget, when they tabled his application in Nevada, the vote was 4-1 and all fingers pointed the fighter back to California, the commission which handed down his one year ban.
Before he was banned, now his license is revoked. Ouch!
Now everything is up in the air including the possibility that Pacman does not fight this year.
I don’t know about Arum’s cheeks but, wow, his jaw must be aching now.
