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NAZEEM RICHARDSON ON HOW MARGARITO "LOADED HIS GLOVES" With Pedro Fernandez audio
Here is the new audio interview by Pedro Fernandez with Nazim Richardson.
YouTube - Nazim Richardson On Margarito
Here is the transcript for those who enjoy reading.
NAZEEM RICHARDSON ON HOW MARGARITO "LOADED HIS GLOVES"
16 March, 2009 by Ring Talk News
TRAINER DETAILS CHEATING ON "RING TALK RADIO"
San Francisco, CA- There have been a lot of writing about the fact Antonio Margarito was caught “loading his gloves” (as we call it in boxing) by Shane Mosley’s trainer Nazeem Richardson. The man who put together the strategy that took Margarito down and eventually out, Nazeem has been the guy that I’ve wanted to talk to. Appearing last night (Sunday 3-15-09) on “Ring Talk Radio,” the longest running fight show in history hosted by Pedro Fernandez, Mr. Richardson laid to rest any doubts of Antonio Margarito being a victim of some rush to judgment as he told the story of the “loaded gloves.” This exclusive interview is itself an indictment of the “lunatic fringe” that have come out and defended the Mexican.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT WITH NAZEEM HERE & NOW!
RT- On the line from Philadelphia is one of the more prominent players in the sport of boxing. He’s been under the radar, but lately he’s been above the radar as his guys have been pulling off big wins. Bernard Hopkins upsetting Kelly Pavlik. Then he followed that up with Shane Mosley, he beat on Antonio Margarito so bad he should have been arrested for Domestic Violence, it was such a beat down! Nazeem Richardson, how are you tonight sir? NR-I’m holding on with both hands man. How you doing out there?
RT-Fine, how is life in Philly? Do they have any fights at the Spectrum anymore? Is it torn down? NR-No, they’re not doing a lot of fights at the Spectrum anymore. There’s a new place called “the Arena.”
RT- I’ve wanted to get you on the show, and what people have wanted me to talk to you about, and I’m sure you’ve told the story 1,000 times, much like that guy that landed that plane in the Hudson River. What happened the night that you went into Antonio Margarito’s dressing room to watch his hands get wrapped? Can you take us through that? NZ- What happened when they refer to rewrapping his hands three times, that was because of the amount of tape he put on his skin, before any gauze or anything. He was wrapping an enormous amount of tape directly on his skin, on his hands, around his thumb and down his wrist. I told him based on the rules of California that it was illegal. They wanted to jump behind (chuckle) that he had a previous injury. And I was like, but that has nothing to do with the rules man. Finally, that’s how the Commissioner was called into the room.
RT-What about this plaster of Paris, or this powder they put on the hand wraps? When did all of this come into play? NZ-Some of that was people trying to take this in another direction. What happened was he had cushions that he put on his knuckles as they’re wrapping his hands. They had this on one hand already. The Commissioner checked him, but I didn’t see them (wrap the first hand). So, I asked them, I want to check that cushion. And they allowed me to check the cushion and I said, this is pretty hard. So, I asked the Deputy Commissioner to feel it, I said this is hard. He said it, "Feels alright to me." Well I said it doesn’t feel right to me. So I went to the Commissioner, he came in and checked it and said, "It’s pretty hard." Then they peeled it open and down the middle he had a square block of old gauze wrapped with plaster on it. When I took it out and let the Dr. see it he said, “This is the same stuff we use in hospitals to make casts.”
RT-Right then and there, he probably should have been arrested by the Police, let alone be allowed to go out and fight. Don’t you think? NZ-I told them I want the other hand unwrapped. They (Commission) said, “We approved this hand already. I said, so we’re supposed to wait until the fight is over and we check the hand and find out what’s on it? So the Commissioner says, “You’re right,” and they unwrapped the other hand and found another block. I refused to give the blocks to the Commissioner, I called Shane Mosley’s lawyer (Judd Burstein). So, his lawyer came over and I gave them to his lawyer because I didn’t know what the procedure was then, but I felt the same way (that the Police should have been called). I said, this sport of ours is dangerous enough when you follow the rules. Go outside the rules and it can be fatal.
RT- These blocks you’ve described, did they lead to the busting up of Miguel Cotto? Because Cotto in the first four or five rounds, he was doing OK. But then once he started getting hit, he got busted up, like instantly. NR-I looked at that myself and I couldn’t call it cause I don’t know for sure if he had them (the blocks) then, so we can only speculate. The way they’re in the padding, the impact on the gloves as the rounds go on would get you closer to the plaster. So, later you might be punching harder than you were actually punching earlier. So that (Cotto being a victim) maybe the case, but I don’t know, can’t say it for sure. People don’t realize this is a black eye on boxing. We’re all under the same umbrella, all from the same fraternity. I hate to see anything negative like this come to boxing, me being a part of boxing myself.
RT- Thank God you were astute enough to figure this out, because Shane might have taken a horrific pounding from these hand wraps. Although, I tell you the way Shane boxed Margarito that night he (Margarito) could have worn hand wraps and not hit Shane in the ass even if he had a ping pong paddle, he just couldn’t do it. Shane took him right of his game plan from the get-go. Was it that body shot in the first round that sort of told Margarito you’re in trouble tonight? NZ- Well, I don’t know if that set the tone, I know I had the athlete prepared. And my thing was, I told Shane coming into the camp that the people that doubt us we can’t do anything about. My goal in this camp, when we finish this project, is that the people that thought we were going to win the fight, I want them to be shocked by the way you win this fight. So the game plan we had was that I felt I was going to draw up a game plan where as though I’d had an average guy off the street, I could have gave Margarito some problems. I figured if I had an exceptional guy like Shane, all intentions were to knock Margarito out.
RT-Is Shane and Cotto II in the future or what? NR-Shane is interested in Cotto, but in my opinion, I’d like to see him and Manny Pacquiao was victorious in the Ricky Hatton fight. I’d like to see Shane and Pacquiao. I feel Shane has earned the super fights.
RT-I agree. NZ- What I went through with Margarito, when they started hooting and hollering in the dressing room, I did the same thing before with (Tito) Trinidad. I raise a lot of my sons and nephews in this sport, so I got that kind of fatherly figure. I’ve got to protect them at all costs.
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Re: NAZEEM RICHARDSON ON HOW MARGARITO "LOADED HIS GLOVES" With Pedro Fernandez audio
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