By Jim Dower: In a bit of bad news for Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs), the word is that his license to fight has been suspended by the California State Athletic Commission as of Wednesday due to a plaster-like substance was found on his hand wraps just prior to his fight with Shane Mosley on January 24th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Along with Margarito’s license, his trainer Javier Capetillo has also been temporarily suspended until the investigation has been completed.
According to reports, the suspicious hand wraps have been taken as evidence by the CDJ (California Department of Justice). There’s no word how long it will take for the wraps to be analyzed, but with as much heat that is on this issue, it likely won’t be too much longer before the results come in. If Margarito is found guilty of having an illegal substance in the wraps, Margarito and his trainer could face suspensions, leading up to revocation of their licenses. According to Margarito, what they removed from his hand was tape and not any other substance.
Margarito stands to lose his chance at a rematch with Cotto, which possibly was to take place in June of this year. That would have been a good chance for Margarito bring back his good name somewhat and win back some boxing fans that might have been turned off by his loss to Mosley and the glove wrap issue. In addition to the Cotto fight, there were other fights out there for Margarito, even possibly a rematch with Mosley at some point in time.
This couldn’t come at a worse time for Margarito, because he had just recently made a name for himself with his 11th round TKO win over Miguel Cotto in July 26th 2008. Before that, Margarito had still been largely unknown by the larger public despite previously holding the WBO welterweight title two times and had wins over Kermit Cintron (twice), Antonio Diaz and Joshua Clottey.
In July 2007, Margarito lost his WBO title to Paul Williams in a 12-round decision loss. The fight was action packed from start to finish, but Margarito started off too slowly, giving away the first six rounds. He came on in the second half but came up just short. In April 2008, Margarito defeated Cintron by a 6th round TKO to capture the IBF welterweight title.
If Margarito is cleared of this, it could leave more than a few people red-faced, because many of them – fans, sportscasters and athletes – have made a tremendous deal out of this without knowing the facts. There seems to have been a huge rush to judgement based on speculation. In the end, Margarito may deserve a huge apology from a lot of people.
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