Antonio Margarito Hearing Live Updates

The commission attorney (Kathy Chappelle) has basically stated that he knew what was going on with the gloves, that everything falls on him, etc. Mostly what you’d expect.

Daniel Petrocelli (Margarito’s high-priced lawyer) is talking now.

Dan Rafael says the HBO crew is in there filming for 24/7 btw

Petrocelli now saying that Margarito’s reputation before last year was solid, with all his fights having a clean discipline record before. They’re talking a lot about “rehabilitation” of Margarito. The state wants to see some evidence of it.

Petrocelli just used Wite-Out as an example of what the insert would have felt like. And he’s focusing on the insert being there at all. “If not for someone raising a ruckus about it…”

And back under the bus goes Javier Capetillo.

Using the comments from Richardson, Roach, etc., to strengthen Margarito’s case that he had no idea the insert was there.

No Finding that Margarito’s Testimony Was Incredible

Now they’re having technical problems with the microphone. Right when Petrocelli was on a roll, he’s SABOTAGED!

I mean they are just completely tearing down Javier Capetillo. Talking about Margarito’s new trainer, how they don’t use knuckle pads anymore — except when they do! Then Margarito oversees the process. The commission lawyer’s face on that was priceless.

“Mr. Margarito did not seek to fight anywhere during the year of the revocation.”

So they’re saying the May fight in Mexico was OK because it was over a year after, even though he had not addressed his situation with California and even tried to go around them in both Texas and Nevada.

Margarito being sworn in.

First question: “Since your license was revoked in California, have you applied to box in any other state?”

“Yes.”

Margarito says he does not “recall” when he applied in Nevada.

“My attorney said my piece and we decided to go and request it in Nevada.”

“What was the outcome?”

“That we had to wait, because we were punished here by the California commission.”

“Did you apply for a license anywhere else other than Nevada while you were revoked?”

“We got some exams, just in case the company were to get some fights in any other states.”

“I see. Did you apply for a license in Texas?”

“That I’m not sure. We did go through the tests. There was a fight in Texas that I did not go through…”

Margarito’s testimony is reminding me of Casanova from Project Runway, that would be admitting that I watch Project Runway. At gunpoint.

“Do you have a fight scheduled with Manny Pacquiao as an opponent?”

“That has been heard. I have not signed for that fight yet, though. But that is supposed to be the next fight I would have.”

“And where would that fight take place?”

“I don’t know. It has been mentioned that the fight could be in Texas, but it is my promoters that take care of all of that.”

“Who is your promoter?”

“It is Bob Arum.”

“Since the time of your license revocation, have you had a professional fight?”

“After the year went by, yeah, there was a fight.”

“And when was that fight?”

“May the 8th.”

“And who did you fight?”

“Roberto Garcia.”

“And what was the outcome?”

“I won by decision.”

“And was that a title fight?”

(Note: Oh boy, let’s explain titles here.)

“It was a championship fight, but no it was not a world title fight.”

“A championship fight, so did you win a belt?”

“Yes.”

“If you had been given a license to fight in Texas, would you still have come to California to request a license here?”

“Well, yes. This is where I got punished. This is where I would have to come in order to clear my name. This is where I would have to come and show that I don’t need anything other than my ability to fight.”

California has some really odd boxing rules. Just ask Cintron.

“Due you currently have a sparring permit from the California boxing commission?”

“No, I don’t have one.”

“Are you aware that boxing or sparring is illegal in California without a permit?”

“Yes of course I do know.”

“So when you spar with your trainer in Oxnard, California, you’re aware that you’re in violation of California law?”

“Well that would be for fighting, but not for training. I believe that I would need it in order to fight a fight, but not for training.”

“No professional boxer shall spar for training purposes with any person who’s not licensed as a professional boxer or who does not have a sparring permit. No one advised you that you needed a permit to spar?”

“No I did not know about that.”

“Were you training there to get ready for your fight in Mexico against Roberto Garcia?”

“That’s right.”

“Are you training there now to get ready for the fight against Manny Pacquiao in Texas?”

“No, not yet. Right now I am training alone in Tijuana, Mexico.”

Question now about counseling/rehabilitation/education to understand the rules.

Margarito: “No, for that my attorneys are the ones that have been going through all these rules that govern the professional boxing.”

“Has anyone ever advised you it is illegal to spar in California without a license?”

“Well, no, I did not know that. I did not know that I needed the permit for sparring or for training. I do know that I needed the permit for a professional fight, but not for sparring purposes.”

“Thank you.”

“But I wanted to mention something that, uh, the one year had gone by. The one year after my license was suspended, for me to come back here to California.”

Have you ever made a public apology?

Margarito: “No, but that’s why I’m here. I’m here to answer any of the questions, and I am here to make an apology, not only to the commission, but to the entire world, for not knowing what was in those wrappings.”

lol am i the only one who finds the pic in the main article revolting? seeing this douche happy and giving the thumbs up just gives me a really bad vibe

“What else have you been doing since your revocation, other than trying to seek a license in another state and practicing boxing?”

“As everybody knows, I’ve been training to maintain my condition. I’ve been also in Tijuana, Mexico, helping out kids. Kids that are suffering with cancer. Kids that have some mental disability. Helping the mothers of those kids with some grants. Well, I’ve been helping kids, also training them in the ring, trying to teach them a little bit of this. I’ve also played some baseball, trying to raise some funds to help the moms of kids who are afflicted with cancer.”

These questions are getting really stupid. We’re on our way to “Mr. Margarito, do you agree or disagree that kitties are cute, and need to not be hit with loaded gloves?”

Margarito agrees that drugs and “devices” are bad and that rules should be respected.

Margarito: “I think that anything that is placed on the wrapping that is illegal would be cheating, and that would be an unfair advantage.”

“So in order for your to continue your relationship with Mr. Capetillo, you would have to break the law, would you not?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You testified that you broke your relationship with Mr. Capetillo for what he did. But in fact he hasn’t got a license anymore, so if you continued your association with him, you would be breaking the law.”

“At the moment that I was punished, that’s when I broke that relationship.”

Margarito: “Believe me when I say that if I could have done everything alone, I would. But I do need some assistance, and that’s why I need a trainer, that’s why I changed trainers.”

Question about if Margarito is aware of other times in boxing history when fighters have cheated by loading gloves.

“No, I’m not. I’m not aware of any of that.”

“This is the only time you’re aware of? When it happened in your case?”

“Yes.”

“How old are you?”

“32.”

That’s the key statement, IMO

“Would you say that you honor the integrity of the sport of boxing, fair play, and a competition among equals?”

“That’s right. I do believe so.”

“Other than yourself, how many other people depend on you for your financial support and maintenance?”

“That’s a lot. I do have a wife that I support, and I support also her siblings, I support my parents. I also support my wife’s parents. I have never counted them, but it’s a lot of people that I support.”

“Are you aware that if the commission denies your petition, you have to wait one full year before you can reapply?”

“Here in California? Yes. That’s why I’m here.”

Petrocelli objects on the grounds of these being “complex legal questions.” Commission agrees and asks Chappelle to “simplify a little more.”

“Putting aside a boxer’s lifestyle, would you agree that based on the brutal nature of boxing that the time expectancy of when a boxer can be a champion competitor is very short?”

“Yes I do know that — I don’t know long, but the career of a boxer … I don’t know how long it could last. It’s short, though.”

Commission asks what the purpose of this line of questioning is.

“Mr. Margarito, can you agree that boxers’ time expectancy of career is short.”

“Yes, I do know.”

“And the sky is blue?”

“Okay.”

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Since you lost your license, what has been the source of your income?”

“What I earned from the last fight, that’s how I’ve been supporting myself.”

“Would you please tell the commission members in your own words where your boxing license was revoked in California?”

“Because something illegal was found in the wrapping.”

“So you understand that when your license was revoked in February 2009, and you said that you were unaware that your trainer had put illegal handwraps in your gloves, you understand that the commission did not believe you?”

Petrocelli objects, commission agrees. Now she goes with the Los Angeles Superior Court’s ruling on an appeal, saying they did not believe Margarito.

“Well only the commission knows whether they would believe me, but I’ve been sincere when I say I was unaware of that.”

“Since you have the burden today of proving rehabilitation in these proceedings, do you understand that one element of proving rehabilitation is that you’ve gained insight into the wrongdoing that was attributed to you?”

“That’s right.”

Margarito: “[The commission] were the ones that revoked my license, and I am throwing myself at the mercy of them.”

lol christ this guy has mastered the art of sounding repentant without actually being repentant. “i’m sorry for what happened, but hey i still didn’t do anything wrong. it was the other guy who did it”

She basically just asked him, “Sucks not fighting, don’t it?”

“What conditions, if any, would you suggest be placed on such a conditional license?”

“Well I believe that the rules that they have are perfect. What else could I ask? I believe that the rules that the athletic commission has in California are perfect.”

That makes one person.

They’re deciding when to go to lunch.

One man suggests that since people have been here so long, they could use a break to take a leak or the like. So they’re taking a 10-minute break.

Is the sound gone for everyone else or just me?

Petrocelli questioning Margarito now

Margarito: “I was offered to fight in Mexico, and I was offered quite a bit of money to do so. I was told your punishment is in California, not here. … I decided not to do so, respecting the commission here, and I decided to wait the entire year.”

“What exactly are you doing with [Robert Garcia] to make sure no irregularities appear in your hand wraps?”

“Ever since I started working with him, I told him I protect a lot my hands, so I need to see and know how you’re going to wrap them for training, for a fight. And he told me, yeah, not a problem, I will show you how I’m gonna wrap you. He started wrapping it with me, paying attention to what he was doing, and I was doing that with caution to be on top of everything. And there was a lot of people present, not only from my team, but there were people from the other team, and ever since I started working with him I have been very attentive to what is done, to make sure there is nothing illegal.”

“When you say that night, you mean the night of the fight this past May in Mexico?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t want that to ever happen again.”

Commission member has questions now. And questions about those questions.

Now the commission is passing one microphone around trying to decide exactly what the hell they’re doing here. Reinstating a license? Giving a new license? It’s a grey area!

Member 1: “Is a sparring permit required? Could you describe that?”

And now they’re going to defer that question to Che Guevara, the guy who put the OK on Margarito’s gloves before Naazim jumped in last January.

Petrocelli: “There’s been no evidence here that he’s been sparring with people who don’t have a license.”

So if you’re a licensed boxer, that’s fine. But if you’re not, you need a sparring license. Of course Margarito had neither. That’s what the commission is now saying.

Commission: “What date did you end your relationship with Capetillo?”

Margarito: “After my license was revoked.”

Commission: “That day?”

They want to know when he started working with Garcia. They believe February — no, March 2010. “It was March, because I always concentrate for two months.”

Commission: “Do you think Mr. Capetillo was trying to cheat before the Shane Mosley fight?”

Margarito: “I do believe that if he was putting something illegal in the wrapping, then yes. But do believe me when I tell you that severing my relationship with him was very difficult after so many years. But it had to be done.”

Commission: “Why did you not come here first, instead of seeking licensing in Texas or Nevada?”

Margarito: “To Texas I never went. To Nevada it was Top Rank who wanted to have the fight over there, and that’s why we went, but if you grant my license again, I will gladly fight over here to show that I’m willing and able to follow the rules of the California commission. If it was granted to me, I would show that I am willing to follow the rules here before anything else. With any condition that you may give me.”

Totally skirted that one.

Margarito: “I didn’t know that I have to have a permit for sparring. What I did know was that I could not fight without a license here in California. … Had I known that, I would have not.”

Commission: “Why did you not familiarize yourself with the rules and also with your lawyer’s statement prior to testifying today?”

Margarito: “For that I have to apologize for not being aware of that. What I do have to do now is just to get more involved and, I didn’t know that I had to get so involved. All I can tell you is that I was unaware that I needed that permit to train or to get prepared. I’m going to get more involved in that and I’m going to be on top of that.”

Margarito: “I did trust Capetillo with the wrapping and everything else, and I don’t know why he did what he did, but if I were to be granted a license again, I’m going to be more on top of everything. I’m going to be involved in not only the wrapping is right, but that everything is right, and that I’m gonna be following the rules as they’re set, and just being more involved in it.”

Commission: “Did you consider Mr. Capetillo before the incident a ‘clean’ trainer?”

Margarito: “Yes, that’s right. He had never used or put anything like that before, and that’s why we had been working before so long, so well.”

“So that’s the first time you’re aware of that this incident occurred?”

“That’s right, sir.”

“And what you consider this out of character for Mr. Capetillo?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you ever discuss with Mr. Capetillo what your ethics and standards were for fighting?”

“No. Simply, we worked together, preparing ourselves in order to be able to get ahead and ready for any fight.”

“Mr. Margarito, in your opinion, why did you feel that Mr. Capetillo felt comfortable in being able to do what he did? That he did this without your knowledge, why would he do that?”

“I don’t know what to answer to you. I don’t know. Whatever he did without my knowledge, I don’t know. What I think is that had I found out that this was gonna happen before, the result would have been the same. I would have ended up cutting him off and we would have been at this point just like we are right now, without communicating to each other, but I didn’t know.”

“Well unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of what you would’ve done before. We do know what you did after, when you really had no choice. … Your attorneys work for you. Your trainer works for you. … The bottom line is, when you get in the ring, just like when you get a driver’s license, you can’t know some of the rules of the road and ignore others. You need to know them all.”

“You’re right, that is why I was mentioning at the beginning that if I were able to do everything by myself, I wouldn’t need a team. I wouldn’t have the team under me for the training, or my attorneys, or whomever, and whatever happened, I would be the one responsible for everything that’s happening. If I could, I would be responsible for everything that happened, but I do need the team to help me out with the things that I cannot do by myself.”

“… You need to monitor and check your team constantly. It’s not a matter of ’I’ve got a team and I’ll just leave that up to them.’”

“That’s right, sir.”

“… At this point, I know what you’re gonna do, and I believe you’re sincere in that, but what you’ve done from that point to here is a little shaky, quite honestly.”

Commission: “This commission is charged with the health, safety and welfare of other fighters. And I believe this may be a precedent-setting case. … I’m worried about the next fighter in the next fight who may be offered $250,000 or a million dollars or two million dollars for a fight. And if they think that their punishment is for a year, they may be willing to take that risk, and this case may set that precedent. And that’s the issue that I have.”

Margarito: “Yes, I do believe that you’re right. I believe that everybody has to be informed of everything that is happening in his or her surroundings. That is why I apologize, and that’s why I feel guilty for not knowing what was going on. And that’s why I’m glad that it was found, I’m glad that I did not go into the ring, and that’s why if you were to grant the license again, I would be ever so grateful. Anything that you decided with that, then so be it. But I do believe that you’re right, that it is a hard thing to side.”

Petrocelli is going to try to pull the right wire on the precedent-setting dilemma by saying that’s a situation where that fighter would know what he’s doing, and Margarito did not.

Petrocelli: “A rule might be broken unknowing to the boxer. And what kind of fair and appropriate precedent should there be in that situation?”

Commission: “We are in a sport where certain rules, in particular hand-wrapping, sparring, things like that, are extremely important. … These are THE important rules. So what I’m looking for as a commissioner is that Mr. Margarito is showing evidence of increased supervision of his team even now for these important matters.”

Different Commissioner: “I just wanna make sure that it’s clear that Mr. Margarito understands that we are licensing YOU, and with that license it’s you’re personal responsibility to know the rules under which you operate.”

Chairman now speaking.

Chairman: “The permit thing about training in the gyms keeps coming up. And I wanna say this, it’s a good point, a very good point, and I know that because I read the rules. But I can guarantee you this: There’s not ten fighters fighting today that know that you can’t train under those rules. … You have 42 fights. And your hand wrapped was at least 42 times, let’s put it that way. And from experience, I do know this, it’s not like in the movies, or television movies, the hands are being wrapped a little at a time. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to wrap a hand. And you can feel it. After 5, 6, 7, maybe 8 wraps, and you punch the bag, and he’ll ask you, how’s that feel. … Having my hands wrapped many times, I knew that I could feel something. And that’s the issue that I have. … You keep saying that you didn’t feel it, you didn’t know anything about it. You may be true. But I think you should answer me on that one.”

Margarito: “Had I hit something, then perhaps I would have felt something unusual. But I didn’t have a chance, I didn’t hit anything, and that’s why I didn’t feel — it didn’t feel tight, it didn’t feel that it was something bothering, or something that I could feel. I don’t know. I think that if I had had the chance to hit something, perhaps I could have felt it, but since I didn’t, I didn’t feel it.”

Chairman: “Did (Margarito) ever ask Capetillo, did he ever ask him, why he did such a thing?”

Margarito: “I did speak with him afterwards, after all this happened, and I asked him, ‘Why did you do that?’ And he told me, ‘Yes, son, I did it, and it was my mistake. It was my mistake.’ And when I asked him again, ‘Why? Why did you do that?’ And he said, ’Don’t ask me that. It was my mistake.’ So I did speak with him.”

They will return in approximately 50 minutes. I’m going to get a post up with highlights of the hearing so far, and we’ll have the verdict for you after that, in another new post.

Any updates on what Margarito is eating for lunch?

Petrocelli wants to ask Margarito follow-up questions, and then they’ll examine Robert Garcia.

Petrocelli: “On the question of your conversation with Mr. Capetillo, where you asked him why he did what he did, when did that conversation occur, if you remember?”

(Moment to do some trading out of microphones.)

Margarito: “It was the first time that I was here before the California commission. When we were in court, that was the last time.”

Petrocelli: “You mean after you left the revocation proceeding?”

Margarito: “That’s right.”

Petrocelli: “Had you been in regular contact with your lawyers? … Going back to the first time this issue arose last year?”

Margarito: “Yes, that’s right. I’ve been in contact with my work team as well as with my attorneys.”

Petrocelli: “Have you been made aware and familiar of all the activities that we’re doing on your behalf?”

Margarito: “That’s right.”

Asking Margarito about the sparring now — when it was (March/April), if it was open to the public, etc. He says the press was there to see him train.

Petrocelli: “Were you trying to hide that you were sparring in Oxnard from anyone?”

Margarito: “No, not at all, not at all.”

Petrocelli: “Were you made aware by anybody that you should not, could not spar in Oxnard, when you were sparring?”

Margarito: “No that I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything about it.”

Petrocelli: “Did other fighters mention that to you?”

Margarito: “No.”

Petrocelli: “Any other managers or promoters mention that to you?”

Margarito: “No.”

Petrocelli: “Did you have any reason whatsoever to believe that you were possibly violating some rule by sparring?”

Margarito: “No.”

Going over who he is (fighter for nine years, trainer for nine years now), has a local gym in Oxnard, etc.

“Have you ever been accused of cheating in any way?”

“Never have.”

“You’re proud of that record, right?”

Jesus.

Garcia says he met with Margarito and started training in late February or March of 2010.

Now talking about what camp was like, how much observation he has.

This is weird. They’re trying to paint Robert Garcia like some responsible parent to Margarito who drives him around and never lets him off his leash.

“Not only the rules, we talk about his diet… and the time he goes to bed.”

I’m not even kidding.

“Do you have ANY question about his character?”

“No question at all.”

Garcia made $20K, $19K, $20K or $22K for training Margarito in May.

Now she’s breaking Garcia’s balls over the sparring thing. Give up on the sparring thing. It’s going nowhere. Garcia just said he learned it today. I didn’t know that. It seems like NOBODY knew that.

Yes, you did misunderstand him. No, he is not in training camp in August for a fight in November.

random comment of the thread: battlestar galactica is an awesome show, and that “new” song from soundgarden (its from 1991) RULESSSSS

Commissioner has a question (or some questions) for Garcia.

Robert Garcia has “heard of one” case similar to this, but he doesn’t know much about it. He heard a trainer “took the padding out of the glove or something like that.”

Now Robert Garcia and the commissioner are having a horribly misinformed conversation about the Luis Resto case.

“When is the last time you read the rulebook for the state of California?”

“I don’t remember the last time.”

“(pause) Do you remember any time?”

These two members of the panel, seated side-by-side at the end of the table, are particularly aggressive and seem particularly agitated.

i know the whole thing surrounding margarito is a serious matter, but this just seems like a joke

CLASSROOM training to become a boxing trainer? My God. Come on. Know ANYTHING other than your rulebook.

The entire questioning of Robert Garcia was pointless. Absolutely pointless.

Now it’s pure lawyer-ball.

“…not that he hit a PUNCHING BAG, but that he hit his hand into his other hand, which is typical of most boxers…”

Alright.

Now the commission is arguing over what fighters do with their hands immediately after having them wrapped.

He’s going to testify as to whether or not Margarito hit something with his wrapped hand.

“Yes, I was the, one of the, or the, athletic inspector assigned to Margarito that night. … We were basically standing right next to trainer Capetillo as well as Mr. Margarito. … He got his hand wrapped thoroughly, correct — I shouldn’t say correctled … Mr. Margarito did not get up, stand up, did not hit mitts, did not hit anything…”

He’s saying basically he threw some punches into the air.

“At no point did we approve that hand wrap or sign off on it.”

Guevara says Margarito was very cooperative on the night of the fight.

Wow. Big time awkward joke from the commission.

“This was a sordid incident of boxing history in California. … This commission should send a message with its decision.”

Chappell focusing on Margarito constantly “not knowing” about everything.

“Petitioner has been given every chance, every opportunity to come clean, and to admit to wrongdoing. And to demonstrate his capacity for truth and veracity. He had an opportunity to do so at his initial revocation hearing. He had an opportunity to do so when he went to Nevada. He had an opportunity to do so in Texas. He had an opportunity to do so today.”

She’s saying Margarito shows no remorse, either because he doesn’t comprehend it or remains unwilling to accept responsibility.

She’s laying it on very strong.

“For boxers, [an internal moral compass] means always understand that fair play always comes first. No one has ever said that the state athletic commission expects boxers, wrestlers and mixed martial artists to be perfect. If that were true, we wouldn’t have a single one licensed in the state. What we can expect, and have an obligation to demand, is that licensed boxers … be honest with themselves, and their opponent.”

Petrocelli: “The same argument we just heard is the same argument we heard a year ago.”

His argument is basically “Margarito didn’t know.” That’s the entire argument for Margarito’s side. “I don’t know.” And the prosecution is arguing that that’s not good enough.

it sounds like margo’s not going to get his license after all, goddamn i hope it turns out that way

Petrocelli does have lots of slides, though. Prosecution had none.

“And it wasn’t the commission that found it, by the way…”

About time someone said that.

Petrocelli: “He took his punishment for being the captain of the ship when someone on the ship did something wrong. Did something very bad.”

Petrocelli’s basically trying to say that the sparring permit rule is akin to those things in Wherezat, Iowa, where you get flogged for chewing spearmint gums after 11pm.

Promises to be extra super duper careful about wrapping in the future. Now bringing up the recent quotes from trainers that sure, you could put some stuff in wraps.

“He probably doesn’t know every one of the MAJOR rules and he needs to rely on people to help him.”

Probably not the best line.

C’mon double secret probation…do it Cali!

Petrocelli is done.

No commissioners have questions.

1. Grant license
2. Deny license
3. Issue a probationary license

Says the third option she has not seen used since she’s been with the commission starting in 1994.

First commissioner is not convinced that Margarito is rehabilitated.

“Kind of the ostrich with the head in the sand,” says the second commissioner.

“It just doesn’t fly,” he says of Margarito’s lawyers saying he trusts them to read documents for him and not prep him on the contents.

“I still have some concerns about if your intent was to clear your name, why you didn’t come to California first to get this resolved, instead of allowing your promoters to seek fights in other states,” says the third commissioner.

“Not minor safety issues, major safety issues. I can’t imagine a bigger safety issue than this,” says the fourth to speak.

“The risk created was so great, and we really have to monitor that risk. … We have to follow our hearts, too,” says the fifth to speak.

“I’m thinking at 32 years old, I don’t know if another year can suffice, or anything like that,” says the chairman.

But he is voting for his reinstatement.

5-1 vote against giving him a license

Be interesting to see if they license him anyways.

Is there a picture of a sad Margarito giving a thumbs down?

Thanks to anybody who endured the five hours of this, or even parts, since laughing at some of the comments not made by me kept this a little easier to do.