By William Mackay: So much for Antonio Margarito’s year-long boxing license revocation that was brought down on his head today by the California State Athletic Commission. Margarito’s promoter, Bob Arum, is already looking to set up a fight for him in Mexico while he appeals the ruling and attempt to fight it in California courts. Whether the suspension for the said illegal hand wraps that Margarito was wearing prior to his January 24th fight with Shane Mosley holds up or not, it won’t hamper Margarito from fighting through the year long revocation.
That’s something that the California Commission unfortunately have no power in controlling. Arum plans on placing Margarito on one of the PPVs this Summer, probably in June, and predicts that the fight card will sell an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 buys. That’s a lot of revenue if it turns out to be the case, making the revocation of Margarito a mere slap on the hands for him.
However, before he can get back his license, Margarito will have to first apply and then come up before the panel and they might not necessarily give him back his boxing license. And, given that other states often follow the suspensions in one state, Margarito could be kept from boxing for a long time in the U.S if things work badly for him. I tend to doubt that will happen, though, because this is a muddy case and there’s no prove that Margarito knowingly had the illegal wraps put on.
Margarito apparently had no idea that his wraps were illegal or that they possibly contained an foreign substance, according to his attorney who argued his case today in front of the commission in Van Nuys, California.
The problem for the commission is that they have no way of knowing whether what Margarito says is true or not, and seem to have penalized him for something that he may have had no knowledge about, because his trainer Javier Capetillon has taken all the blame for the mistake, saying that he pulled out an old pair of previously used hand wraps from his bag and put them on Margarito.
As of now, the plaster like substance which this whole case seems to be based on, hasn’t been analyzed yet by a lab. Until the lab results come out, the suspension might be a bit premature because it could turn out to be nothing and leaving the commission with egg on their face.
Margarito lives in Mexico, so if Arum can line up any fights there, Antonio would be right at home fighting in front of friendly audiences.
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