Thoughts On Margarito Suspension

by Lee Payton

The disciplinary hearing for Antonio Margarito was held today. It's now official that there was a hardened pad inserted on top of the knuckles, as well as a "foreign substance" found in the hand wraps he attempted to wear for his fight with Shane Mosley, on January 24.

During the hearing, Margarito's trainer, Javier Capetillo, took the blame, saying that he accidentally inserted the pad. That he took the blame and lost his right to work corners came as no surprise to anyone.

What did come as a bit of a surprise was the commission's decision to suspend the former champion for at least a year. This devastating blow makes the shocking loss to Mosley even harder to swallow for Team Margarito.

While we don't know what the foreign substance was, I think it's safe to assume it wasn't applied to make Margarito's punches any softer. The results of the testing will be made public sometime next month. I sincerely hope it doesn't turn out as badly as I think it might.

We do know that Capetiilo is directly responsible for attempting to load his fighter's gloves. When a trainer gets caught doing something as vile as he did, how can you allow him to work again? He has to be gone for good, as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, now that Tony's chief second has admitted cheating, it's natural to wonder just how much the fighter knew about what was going on. As a professional boxer since his teen years, he knows what a legal wrap looks and feels like. It seems unlikely that he had no idea about anything, though we'll probably never be sure about how wise he was to what was going on.

Perhaps there is room to plead ignorance on the issue of the illegal pad. The commission's inspector noticed that there was an old blood spot on the pad, which could indicate that it was used regularly, or had been used before. Maybe they used it sparring. If using the was part of the routine, maybe it's possible that he thought nothing of it. Uh...right?

The illegal substance that was found is harder to explain. But as mentioned earlier, we are still in the dark as to what that was.

The questions surrounding Antonio Margarito's career will dominate his legacy as a fighter and a man. That's a disappointing reality, because Tony was a respected champion, and those who know him always speak very highly of his character. The reputation he built as a pure fighter has been disgraced.

What do you think of this mess?

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