By Manuel Perez: Let me go on record by saying that I see Antonio Margarito being cleared of the wrap gate controversy that surrounds him at this time. Margarito is a true warrior and would never resort to adding hardened substances like plaster of paris to his gloves to get an added advantage. This guy is a straight shooter and wouldn’t lower himself to this level just to get an edge in his fights.
His trainer wrapped Margarito’s hands in front of an inspector for the for the California State Athletic Commission, and there’s no way he would try to slip in some kind of foreign object knowing that there would be a good chance of him being caught. There’s nothing illicit that has happened from what I can see.
The gauze for his pads got wet and then like things that have been wet, they often get a little hard after they dry but there’s not added weight or any kind of glue, plaster or whatever. It’s just a bunch of gauze that may have had a portion that got a little wet but nothing more than that. I’m certain that once the investigation has finished Margarito will be cleared of this dispute and his good name will be restored.
I just hope that boxing fans give him credit and don’t continue to dog him and accuse him falsely of loading up his gloves once this is over. Margarito is an outstanding fighter and doesn’t need to go to these lengths to win a fight, especially against an opponent as old as Mosley. Margarito went into the bout expected to win this fight easily, so why should he go and load up his gloves in order to beat Mosley?
If anything, Margarito would want to go in the opposite direction and want to fight as fair as possible because he was expected to win so easily. Margarito never fought dirty in the fight. He may have lost by a 9th round TKO, but he didn’t hold like Mosley, and didn’t shove Mosley’s head down like he was doing to him. Margarito also wasn’t shoving Mosley around or trying to wrestle him roughly in the close.
I saw Mosley do all these things, and yet he wasn’t penalized by the referee. If I was in control of the fight, I would have taken points away from Mosley for clinching, shoving and pushing Mosley’s head down. Without those things, the fight might have ended up differently.
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