Margarito still running with wrong crowd

Margarito still running with wrong crowd
Antonio Margarito is still running with wrong crowd - ESPN

Dan Rafael

• If Antonio Margarito wants to get his boxing license back in the United States, he sure is going about it the wrong way. While I was watching Top Rank's "Latin Fury 10" pay-per-view Saturday night, I saw Javier Capetillo in the dressing room preparing junior flyweight titlist Giovanni Segura, who would go on to successfully defend his belt in the co-feature. Capetillo, of course, is the disgraced trainer banned in the United States because he loaded Margarito's hand wraps with an illegal plaster-like substance before a January fight with Shane Mosley in Los Angeles. The cheating was caught before the fight started and Margarito was forced to have his hands re-wrapped. Later, Margarito and Capetillo both had their licenses revoked in California for the egregious infraction.

Segura's fight took place in Mexico, where Capetillo is allowed to work because Mexican officials wrongly do not recognize license revocations in the U.S. I can't blame Capetillo for continuing to work where he is allowed. But what was really disconcerting was that Margarito was with Capetillo in Segura's dressing room. He was also with the trainer and boxer in the ring before and after the fight. Margarito hopes to reapply for a license when he is allowed to early next year, and will have to go before the California commission at that point for another hearing.

If Margarito truly didn't know that Capetillo had loaded his hand wraps, as he claims, wouldn't he be angry at Capetillo? Don't you think he'd be keeping his distance? Don't you think he would have dumped him by now for trying to cheat, causing his license to be revoked and severely damaging his career?

Instead, Margarito is still with Capetillo, making it even more difficult to believe his weak story that he didn't know what the trainer was doing. If I'm on the California commission and responsible for deciding whether Margarito gets his license back, the scene of him being so chummy with Capetillo certainly disappoints me, erodes any shred of credibility his story has and makes it difficult for me to vote in favor of relicensing him. By hanging around with Capetillo, Margarito is sending the wrong message to California regulators, as well as many of the folks who would like to give him the benefit of the doubt but find it almost impossible.

• Heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko isn't just sitting around lamenting the fact that David Haye ran from a Sept. 12 fight they had agreed upon. Instead, I'm told by some of the folks involved in the fight that Klitschko is close to a deal to meet Chris Arreola in an HBO fight Sept. 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the same arena where Klitschko had his classic slugfest with Lennox Lewis and later stopped Corrie Sanders to win a vacant title. I think Klitschko-Arreola is a far more interesting fight than Klitschko-Haye, because I think Arreola has a better chance of winning. I also think the bout could draw a huge crowd given that Arreola is a Mexican-American from Southern California and would be bidding to become the first fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight title.

• After Haye turned tail and ran from Wladimir Klitschko (June 20) and then Vitali (Sept. 12) to sign for a Nov. 7 fight against Nikolai Valuev, I received a lot of questions from the Fight Freaks during last week's chat asking whether HBO, which Haye blew off by backing out of both fights, would be interested in televising Valuev-Haye. So I asked HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg about it. His answer was short and sweet: "We have no interest in a Valuev versus Haye fight." I don't blame him one iota.

• Even when the abominable WBA does something that makes sense, it screws up. In this case, it finally stripped heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev of his ludicrous "champion in recess" title. After all, he was no longer in recess, having fought twice in six months (in February and June). There was also the little matter of Wladimir Klitschko beating the stuffing out of him in a brutally one-sided shellacking June 20, even though the silly "recess" title was not at stake. But just when you want to try to give the WBA a sliver of credit, you can't. The reason: The WBA made Chagaev its No. 1 contender, which is mind-blowing in its stupidity. Maybe I need to send a DVD of the Klitschko fight to the geniuses at the WBA offices. Those who run that circus need to view it again and see the joke of a No. 1 contender get absolutely laid to waste. If the WBA wanted to leave him in the top 10, fine. No. 1? Just another day in the WBA's bizarro world.

• And while I'm on the onerous subject of the WBA, how about this one: For no apparent reason, featherweight titleholder Chris John was promoted to "super champion," even though he hasn't unified a title, as is the WBA's rule for crowning a "super champion." It also promoted "interim champion" Yuriorkis Gamboa to "regular champion." Swine flu is more appealing than the WBA.

• Let's hope sanity prevails and Paul Williams and his team don't blow the fight with Kelly Pavlik because of their outrageous demands.

• Contrary to reports, there are no plans for cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek to move up to heavyweight to fight Polish countryman Andrew Golota, according to Adamek promoter Main Events. I have only two words: thank goodness.

John Ruiz wasn't a fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight title?

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Originally Posted by boozeboxer

John Ruiz wasn't a fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight title?

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John Ruiz is Puerto Rican.

Which made him the first Puerto Rican to win a world heavyweight title.

Even though you'd have to be foolish to believe Margarito's "ignorance act" I think he should banned for life with or without his lame excuse. The fact that he is showing no remorse, guilt, or even any intelligence makes it a lot easier to throw him out for good. I used to be a big fan of Margarito and I was one of the people who thought he would give PBF trouble. Never will I respect someone who loads his or her gloves.

MArgarito is a total disgrace to the sport and I hope that every shenanigans from uncle Bob won't bring him back in the US for a VERY long time.

margacheato knows he cheated unless hes a dumbass.

I'm glad someone in the media is bringing that out, and I hope that someone from the Commission sees this, or hears about it.

Me and Danny were saying the exact same thing while the fight was going on.

Margacheato keeps proving that not only is he a cheater, but he's a dumba$$ as well.

I like Rafael in spots but he needs to put down the fork.Sorry but Burger chef on a soapbox here.To actually pretend that he still holds a 'shred' of respect or might be one to give Marga-finito :D the benefit of the doubt is ludicrous...they were both suspended equally,looked at as one in the same and will have clouds over there heads regardless from here on out.By his broad brush logic...why not confiscate Seguras gloves and every other fighter he works with?..whys the font all fawked on post?

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Originally Posted by Hulk

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Originally Posted by boozeboxer

John Ruiz wasn't a fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight title?

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John Ruiz is Puerto Rican.

Which made him the first Puerto Rican to win a world heavyweight title.

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sadly yes Ruiz is Puerto Rican, but he's the first Hispanic heavyweight champion, period

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Originally Posted by Diane

I'm glad someone in the media is bringing that out, and I hope that someone from the Commission sees this, or hears about it.

Me and Danny were saying the exact same thing while the fight was going on.

Margacheato keeps proving that not only is he a cheater, but he's a dumba$$ as well.

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He does seem to be a bit of a plonker. I had always thought so with the bizarro mullets he kept coming out with and that bizarre leer he always had on his face. But the hand wraps and hanging out with the trainer who supposedly set him without him knowing. It's hard to know if he ever had a brain or whether Mosley knocked any remaining shreds of it out once and for all.

Margarito is a total idiot an a dssgrace to Mexican boxing.:mad: