With tension building for a Saturday night encounter between boxing’s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and the sport’s black sheep Antonio Margarito, one final tasteless salvo was fired by the Mexican-American fighter against trainer Freddie Roach.
Earlier this week Margarito and lightweight contender Brandon Rios were seen on an AOL Fanhouse video produced by correspondent Elie Seckbach quivering and shaking in a classless attempt to mock Roach’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
Maybe Margarito and Rios fail to realize that Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disorder that effects approximately 500,000 people in America alone, including children.
No matter what Margarito and Rios will say to clear up their tasteless attempt at humor or building up a fight, their actions are unforgivable.
Margarito was already on thin ice with some boxing fans and media members after being suspended by the California State Athletic Commission in 2009 for attempting to bring plaster-loaded hand-wraps into a fight with Shane Mosley. After a year-and-a-half-long suspension the California Commission still denied Margarito a license, only to have Texas give Margarito the permission to fight Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in two days.
Many pundits and fight fans have argued that Margarito had served his time and somehow deserved a fight against boxing’s most prominent fighter, while receiving a three-million dollar pay day at the same time.
