Plaster officially found in Margarito's wraps
by Brickhaus on Mar 27, 2009 10:28 AM EDT
Email
PrintAccording to ESPN, testing by the California State Department of Justice has confirmed that there was indeed plaster of paris in Antonio Margarito's wraps.
A California Department of Justice senior criminalist who inspected the wrappings under a stereomicroscope and with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer determined the wraps contained sulfur and calcium, according to a document obtained by the Times. Those two elements, with the addition of oxygen, make plaster of Paris.
The hand wraps were removed from Margarito's fists shortly before his Jan. 24 title fight against Mosley when Mosley's trainer, Nazim Richardson, objected to their use. The hardened gauze pads, which had been inserted inside the hand wraps near Margarito's knuckles, were seized by the California State Athletic Commission, which sanctions and oversees boxing in the state.
In addition, the article mentions that Margarito and Capetillo have not appealed their suspensions. Bob Arum finally shut up about the matter, saying that he had no comment.
Personally, I really hope the California State Athletic Commission really throws the book at Margarito and Capetillo, and I hope Margarito gets charged with attempted aggrevated battery. There's absolutely no place for this kind of cheating in boxing. This type of unfair advantage can lead to serious damage or even death. Just ask Billy Collins' parents.
FanPosts are user-created content written by community members of Bad Left Hook, and are generally not the work of our editors. Please do not source FanPosts as the work of Bad Left Hook.
36 comments
|
2 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Just to give credit where credit is due
Evidently the LA Times broke the story first.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/03/margarito-wraps.html
I have to give props to them for keeping on top of this story and not letting it fade to the background.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
If you anything about handwraps
You will always see the knuckle formation on the wraps after it is fully done. If you take a look at the interview or when the camera is on Margarito after the fight with Miguel Cotto you’ll see his wraps are taller than the Rockie Montains. Here’s a clip:
Skip and pause it somewhere around 5:40 and 5:45. Judge for yourself.
The only thing that sucks is that there aren’t any other interviews with him after he fights. I think they might have done one with the Clottey fight but it was quickly brushed off. Same goes for the Cintron bout.
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX [Mexico's largest cement company.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e1yvpIopGw
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX [Mexico's largest cement company.]
Lujan is the other one that raises the biggest red flag for me
And while I fully believe in innocent until proven guilty, I can’t dock the guys who lost to Margarito too much knowing that he probably cheated in those fights as well, and I have to give a lot of credit to Paul Williams, who’s about the only person Margarito’s faced in the last 5 years who never got hurt during the fight.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Without a doubt Lujan raises them
But again a few weeks ago someone was playing the last rounds of the Cotto-Margarito fight and just caused me to pay more attenion towards the end with his wraps. Right after, I began to look at more videos and sadly, Cotto’s the only one. Probably because it was the most inportant fight of his career. Again in the Clottey fight there is a time where Margo is shown with his wraps but it’s too far to tell. Paul Williams did feel his power towards the end of the rounds. But yeah he wasn’t entirely hurt.
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX [Mexico's largest cement company.]
It’s werid to see someone give ONE body punch, and williams literally keeled over 90 degrees a couple times, but hes a tough kid. I give him all the props int he world and clottey to for suriving the assault Also, makes me angry at all the margarito nuthuggers sine they’ve been so rude and so dismissive of all opinoins. all boxers, and any other boxing methods that’s not just walk-in- and -throw.
Me too
Hate to say it, but it’s really possible that he’s been at it since the loss to Santos. Golden Johnson is no great talent, but Margs KO’d him with one punch. I think only other guys who ever KO’d Johnson were Shane and Vivian Harris, and it certainly wasn’t with one punch.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
what about a class action suit? What if all of us who bought the fight sued Margarito and Co. for fraudulent and/or negligent misrepresentation? Is there a civil action for conspiracy?
I don't think so
The only class that suffered damages are the boxers that fought him. I read somewhere that Cintron was considering filing an action, but it was probably a lot of hot air, and frankly he wouldn’t have a good case.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Ridicules
that is one of the most ridicules things I ever heard. Why would we need money back for something that didn’t even happen to us. Also most of the money would go to the lawyers and we might get a 50 coupon to a future pay per view fight.
Still
my family owns lots of properties and businesses and we are in court at least once every other month for stupid lawsuits. They are a waste of time and money. I understand why you would want to do this but it really isn’t worth it. Besides he would just declare bankruptcy and not have to pay anything.
As a follow up
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see someone (DOJ or local police) charge him and Capetillo with conspiracy to commit aggrevated battery.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
I agree with this.
If they try for conspiracy then the penalties are usually tougher then the actual crime. I.E. Jaywalking=misdemeanor conspiracy to commit jaywalking=felony. I am all for criminal charges against both guys.
the charge for conspiracy is the same as the underlying crime
Unless you’re bringing a RICO claim. Anyway, Margo could just be charged with attempted aggrevated battery, but then you couldn’t charge Capetillo.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
I wonder if HBO had people filming while they were taping his hands.
Anyways… it is a disgrace to the sport.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
they did not
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 27, 2009 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions
another note
this is similar to what happened in the collins case which is one of the biggest black eyes in boxing history. Luis Resto said a little while ago that not only was some padding taken out of the glove and his wraps were soaked in plaster of paris making them like plaster which is exactly what Margarito and Capetillo did.
its pretty unconscionable to do that. theres cheating (steroids, bribes, etc) and then theres just maliciousness. making your hand wraps into plaster i think shows malicious intent. no way in hell they should ever see the inside of a boxing ring or event again let alone get paid for doing it.
To bad he will probably have plenty of chances to fight in Mexico
and other corrupt boxing countries. He will probably not ever be allowed to fight big time guys but he will go on making a living fighting bums.
yea thats sickening. even worse a smuck like bob arum will be glad to promote it too.
by sonofapsycho on Mar 27, 2009 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Just to play devil's advocate...
On FNF they said he had “the elements of plaster of paris”, is there anyway to accidentally do that? To me it seems like there is no way to unintentionally do that, but I’m no scientist. Also I would think that having a hard substance on your hands would do not only tremendous damage to your opponent, but also to your own hands, so I am a little skeptical to thinking he has always done this, I don’t think his hands would hold up. And as for the other fights, I say put an asterisk next to them, but you can’t prove it, so we should assumed he was clean or at least legally speaking, we should. As for other fighters claiming that he cheated against them, think about it, if you lost to him, even if he didn’t have loaded gloves, you’d definitely insinuate that the gloves must’ve been loaded.
One other point, these commissions are so inept, he would’ve gotten away with this if Richardson hadn’t said something, the commission was going to let him fight.
I’m not willing to “assume” he was clean for prior fights. I can’t prove he wasn’t but by implication everything he’s done is dirty in my book. I give him credit for cutting weight and hitting the bag, not for any wins.
I also don’t think it would do tremendous damage to one’s own hands. the formation of the cast would literally be ergonomic to the hand. I can imagine it could cut the hands, which would point to why there was blood on the insert, but as far as breaking the bones in the hand, I don’t expect that would be a side-effect.
One other thing: SC said it’s not a reflection on the man just the fighter. I disagree, I think it’s both. While the primary goal may not be malice, it is recklessly malicious, and therefore I think it’s a direct reflection on Margo’s perspective and character as a human. As has been said: Baseball players who ‘juice’ don’t directly damage another man, Margo did and he knew it.
On FNF they said he had "the elements of plaster of paris", is there anyway to accidentally do that?
No, because the only other necessary element is oxygen, also known as “air.” If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck than its a duck. And the whole point of casting plaster is to form a hardened protective layer for a body part. Collins1 says it below: the shape of the set plaster matters a lot in terms of which side is protected and which side is the battering ram.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
That all being said...
He should be banned for life, but I have a feeling he’ll end up fighting in Mexico.
Official who cleared Margarito's wrapping
Can anyone tell me if the official who gave Margarito’s wraps the all clear has been reprimanded or faced some sort of repercussions for missing the illegal wraps? I would like to think that this A-Hole is never allowed to be involved in the boxing game in any official capacity ever again.
This was a mistake ( hopefully just a mistake ) of the highest order and it could have had devastating consequences for Mosley, and he must be punished.
trainers have missed it in the past too, so don’t throw the official under the bus
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 29, 2009 4:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Without knowing the guy, I wouldn’t say he should be fired for this. But fined or something? I mean, I don’t know what you’d do with him in this situation, but he deserves something. He approved bad wraps and was a-ok with it all going out to the ring. I’m not saying hound him forever (I don’t want to know his name or anything) or throw him under the bus, but he didn’t do his job very well that night.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 29, 2009 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions
how about the pple in marg’s corner who tried to prevent the re-wrapping? Can they be considered accomplices…?
The whole corner is suspect, but I think it was Capetillo that said something like “We expected this out of you.”
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 30, 2009 6:50 AM EDT up reply actions
That would be "Che Guevera"
And no, from what I understand no action is being considered against him, even though he signed the glove. Guevera should be investigated, at the very least for his competence (he was on record as not “feeling anything hard” even when Nazim cried foul), but my bet it it will never happen. In order to protect their moral high ground (and, their pocketbook, in case of lawsuits), CSAC won’t implicate anyone in their organization. It stinks to high heaven, just like everything else about this.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
MAB wants him banned from the sport like Cotto.
Barrera is now saying that Margarito’s punishment should be on a global scale and not limited to California and/or the United States.
“After this happened, I said that Antonio, as the fighter, was the least responsible but he should not be excluded because at some point he had to have known about this. This is painful to say but the punishment for my compatriot should be on a global scale and not just in California. Margarito should be made aware of the damage they did to Mexican boxing and this would be the worst punishment,” Barrera said on El Nuevo Dia.
“For his part in this, Javier Capetillo [trainer of Margarito] should never be involved with boxing again. It’s being said that in Mexico there will be support for Margarito so he can continue fighting. I think the boxing commissions [in Mexico] should abide by the punishment handed in California. They are not as strict in Mexico [as the California regulations] and a a serious accident can happen this conduct is repeated.”
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
