Antonio Margarito was riding in a car Friday in New York City on his way to the weigh-in for his rematch against Miguel Cotto tonight at Madison Square Garden (on HBO pay-per-view). Cotto’s junior middleweight belt will be on the line.
But there is a lot more at stake than that, such as Margarito’s reputation that became badly tainted because of what happened prior to his fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley in January 2009, six months after Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round in July 2008 at in Las Vegas.
Margarito was caught with illegal hand wraps, was forced to re-wrap and then was stopped by Mosley in the ninth round at Staples Center. Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, had their licenses revoked and neither has been allowed to get another license in California.
In the aftermath, several fighters who had been beaten by Margarito wondered if he had juiced his wraps against them. The material found in Margarito’s wraps ahead of the Mosley fight were some of the ingredients that could make up plaster of Paris. Theoretically, it would get harder as the fight progressed.
One fighter who immediately jumped on that accusatory bandwagon was Cotto, even though the only small bit of evidence is a photo that shows some kind of splitting apart of Margarito’s left-hand wrap after his victory.
That doesn’t seem like nearly enough to convict Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs). Yet, Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) has tried to do just that. Advertisement
“I can’t let that bother me anymore,” Margarito said. “I’m aware he has been talking and talking and talking. And HBO has been instigating this on 24/7.”
During an episode of HBO’s 24/7 Cotto’s wife, Melissa, was interviewed on the subject.
“To see Margarito, anger,” said Melissa Cotto, who was at ringside as Margarito beat down her husband. “It fills me with anger because he played with the life of my husband.”
The Nevada State Athletic Commission inspector for that fight was Jack Lazzarotto, who said during a 2009 interview he felt Margarito’s wraps as they were being applied, as well as just before the gloves were put on, and they were clean.
Keith Kizer, executive director of that commission, reiterated Friday he has no doubt Lazzarotto followed the correct process of checking the wraps to the letter.
“All I can tell you is, we have all looked into it,” Kizer said. “And to this day there is no evidence whatsoever.”
Not that Kizer was sticking up for Margarito.
“I don’t feel bad at all for Margarito,” Kizer said. “Let’s assume he never did it before. I still don’t feel bad that people think he did. He brought this on himself.”
Kizer said what bothers him is some think the commissions in New York, New Jersey and Nevada could have missed something in Margarito’s wraps. Those were the three commissions under which Margarito fought his three previous fights before Mosley.
Cotto is from Puerto Rico, and Margarito is from Mexico, and the countries have been embroiled in a boxing rivalry for decades. These two don’t need that to fuel their fire. Their comments at Wednesday’s final news conference spoke volumes.
“I’ve been called a criminal by the man (Cotto) next to me,” Margarito said at the dais. “I don’t know why. I don’t beat up my family.”
That was a reference to a fight Cotto once had with his uncle and former trainer, Evangelista.
“If you don’t know what criminal means, you can look it up in the dictionary,” Cotto said in response. “It’s someone who uses a weapon (alluding to the hand wraps). We spoke about the wraps (on HBO). I showed you a picture of them.
“You are like a child. You are an embarrassment to boxing.”
Margarito said Cotto “hits like a girl,” and Cotto said he was going to “slap” Margarito “like a little girl.”
Adding even more intrigue to this fight, which is a sellout and will be pro-Cotto because of the large Puerto Rican population in New York City, is Bob Arum promotes both fighters.
Arum has been strong in his support of Margarito. Not only does he believe Margarito’s wraps were legal against Cotto, he believes Margarito got a bum rap when California took his license for the Mosley fiasco.
“I feel really strongly about this, that Margarito was wronged,” said Arum, who said there never was enough evidence showing Margarito knew his wraps were tainted for the Mosley fight.
This could be a classic between two fighters who abhor each other. Or it could end quickly because Margarito has been off a year after having suffered a beating at the hands of Manny Pacquiao that resulted surgery on Margarito’s right eye.
“I don’t know know if he’ll beat Cotto,” Arum said. “Cotto is a superior boxer, Cotto puts his punches together better than Margarito. Margarito has relentless spots, but I don’t know how much the Pacquiao fight has taken out of Margarito.
“It will be decided in the ring.”
Oscar has one eye on tonight, other on megafight
Oscar De La Hoya on Tuesday spoke in animated tones on two subjects.
One is tonight’s rematch between bantamweight champion Abner Mares and Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko at Honda Center (on Showtime), and the other is the potential fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is staging Mares-Agbeko and it would presumably co-promote Mayweather-Pacquiao. That’s presumably because although Mayweather has fought several times under the Golden Boy banner, he is not under contract to it.
The first Mares-Agbeko ended with Mares getting a controversial majority decision. Controversial because he got away with several low blows.
Agbeko, of Ghana, is the former champion. Since he was the one who was damaged both physically as well as on the scorecards by Mares’ low blows, De La Hoya indicated this could be a real barnburner.
“He definitely has to be up there in the top three, four of African warriors,” De La Hoya said of Agbeko. “You had the great Azumah Nelson and you had the Ike Quarteys of this world. Agbeko is right up there.”
Nelson and Quartey are also from Ghana.
“It’s not going to be an easy fight for Mares or Agbeko,” De La Hoya said.
“I think it’s going to be another classic brawl, a war. I think both fighters are out to prove something and I think we’re going to get a special treat.”
Probably not as special as what we’d get from Mayweather-Pacquiao, which, if made, would likely break all pay-per-view and money records.
“We know Pacquiao wants the fight, we know Mayweather wants the fight; that’s a given,” said De La Hoya, who said he was perturbed that Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, recently suggested that Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer would not even be involved in the negotiations.
Schaefer does that for Golden Boy. If he’s not involved, that would mean Golden Boy would be left out.
“It’s ridiculous now what Bob is talking,” De La Hoya said. “Everybody wants the fight except Bob Arum; he doesn’t want the fight. What’s the problem? Let’s make it happen.”
Arum told reporters this week in New York City there are several groups wanting to finance Pacquiao-Mayweather.
Etc.
The L.A. Matadors will host the Moscow Dynamo in a World Series of Boxing event at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Music Box in Hollywood. The WSB allows amateur boxers to fight five-round professional bouts while still retaining their amateur status. The Matadors are 1-1, the Dynamo 2-0. For ticket information, visit www.lamatadors.com. … Oscar De La Hoya said he is working on a fight that would pit former junior welterweight champions Devon Alexander and Marcos Maidana. It would likely take place sometime in the first quarter of next year. … Brandon Rios of Oxnard was to defend his lightweight world title against John Murray on the undercard of tonight’s Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito fight. But Rios did not make the 135-pound weight limit and he lost his title on the scales. The fight will still go on if Rios can make a weight this morning agreed upon by the respective camps. If Rios wins, the title will remain vacant. If Murray wins, he will get the title.
