Margarito may re-apply to the Nevada Athletic Commission for a license

By Boxing News - 07/11/2010 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, former two-time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito might end up re-applying with the Nevada Athletic Commission to try and get his boxing license back rather than applying to the California Athletic Commission, who are the ones that revoked Margarito’s boxing license last year after a plaster-like substance was found in his hand wraps before fight against Shane Mosley in January 2009.

Top Rank president Todd duboef had this say about Margarito re-applying to the Nevada Commission: “If we have something tangible with a signed deal for Margarito to fight in Las Vegas, I can’t see Nevada punting again if we go back to them.”

However, Margarito and duboef could be wasting their time in reapplying o the Nevada Athletic Commission, as they voted 4-1 against Margarito getting his boxing license back and suggested that he go back to the California Commission, the ones that took his license away to begin.

Duboef apparently doesn’t see the point in doing that, because he says that Margarito isn’t going to be fighting in California, and instead hopes to get a possible shot against Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas if Pacquiao’s fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t end up getting made.

Duboef thinks that the Nevada Commission might see things differently when they realize that Margarito wasn’t trying to avoid the California Commission that he wasn’t trying to circumvent them by going to the Nevada Commission. However, the Nevada Commission might still want Margarito to get cleared by the California Commssion first before they make s ruling to allow him back, because they might not want to be seen undoing what another Commision has ruled.

It seems like a common sense thing to me. If you lost your license with one state, and you know that the other Commissions often back the rulings made from the original state, then it would seem logical to go back to the state where you lost your license to try and get it back. Duboef may say that Margarito isn’t trying to go around the California Commission, but you can’t blame the Nevada Commission for wanting Margarito to go back to the California Commission to try and get his license back.

Will Margarito and Top Rank reply with the Nevada Commission once Margarito has an opponent picked out to fight, even though they’ve already said no to giving him his license back? Margarito and Top Rank might be wasting valuable time to reapply with the Nevada Commission when they can just as easily get it over with and try their luck with the California Commission.

There is talk that if Margarito doesn’t get his boxing license back in the U.S., he could still wind up fighting Manny Pacquiao out of the country. It’s not likely to happen next, because Miguel Cotto, a big pay-per-view star, will likely be the backup plan for Pacquiao.

However, eventually Bob Arum and Top Rank are going to want to match Margarito against Pacquiao and Cotto, and they’ll want those fights to take place in the U.S. They’ll need Margarito to have his boxing license back in the U.S. for that to happen.



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