If Antonio Margarito had his way, he would?ve been jumping for joy and celebrating at The Staples Center in 2009 while an unconscious, disfigured Shane Mosley poured blood on to the canvas from various open facial wounds. The Tijuana sewer rat would?ve been giving his post-fight interview with a big, dopey grin and yelling ?Viva Mexico? with the full knowledge that he was using loaded hand wraps.
I won?t even insult your intelligence with the idea that Javier Capetillo, Margarito?s long-time trainer and father figure, would not have informed Margarito that he was slipping doctored knuckle pads into his wraps. Trainers don?t suddenly change how they wrap a hand or what they use on the hand without letting their fighter know. And fighters, even the most uninformed and disinterested, know when something vastly different is being done to their hands.
Margarito was caught red-handed (pun intended). Capetillo admitted to the deed. Labs confirmed the illegal substance. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) considered the findings and revoked Margarito?s license. It?s really that simple.
Of course, the fighter who was promoted for years as a ferocious beast by a fawning West Coast boxing press, never admitted to any wrongdoing and feigned ignorance as to what was being done by his beloved father figure.
Capetillo took the fall and, if the story is to be believed, cost his poor, clueless fighter his livelihood and reputation. (The tall tale might be slightly believable if Margarito harbored any sort of grudge against this evil man who destroyed his life. Instead, Margarito and Capetillo get along just swell and can barely keep their hands off one another whenever they get within sniffing distance).
