Assault In The Ring on HBO last night

[holmcall]

I agreed with Panama on Margarito... they didn't take any calls and was pretty short

The interview was too polite. They should have pressed him more. All in all, a big nothing which is what this guy is

[JazMerkin]

I agreed with Panama on Margarito... they didn't take any calls and was pretty short

The interview was too polite. They should have pressed him more. All in all, a big nothing which is what this guy is

I thought the interview was well-handled, the interviewer was very professional, being a dick to interviewees, no matter what they've done, is always a bad idea, as it allows the interviewee to get away with feeling a victim, which is especially a problem in a case like this where the guy is a scumbag. If he'd just laid into him, he might not have got the little bit about Margarito at the end. Lewis doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's gonna sit there & listen whilst someone is impolite or abusive, that's just not how you work characters like that.

[Spicoli]

Totally missed it.May be a good thing.Get the feeling he's deflecting and putting on a presentation.Where's that run away greyhound bus when ya need it?

[holmcall]

I agreed with Panama on Margarito... they didn't take any calls and was pretty short

The interview was too polite. They should have pressed him more. All in all, a big nothing which is what this guy is

I thought the interview was well-handled, the interviewer was very professional, being a dick to interviewees, no matter what they've done, is always a bad idea, as it allows the interviewee to get away with feeling a victim, which is especially a problem in a case like this where the guy is a scumbag. If he'd just laid into him, he might not have got the little bit about Margarito at the end. Lewis doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's gonna sit there & listen whilst someone is impolite or abusive, that's just not how you work characters like that.

I didn't say he should have kebbabed him. Just ask a few more incisive questions is all. Press him a bit more that's all. No need to be polite or impolite. Just stay with him and repeat the question is a diffrent way. But I agree with your points.

[Hulk]

All the people who have no sympathy for Resto I can see where you are coming from.

But it was over 25 years ago and he is not the same human being he was then that he is now.

He's 53 fuckin years old now for God sakes and poverty stricken.

Have none of you ever drove your cars drunk?

What if you would have killed somebody?

So then 25 years later if you are a broken destitute mess then there should be no mercy or sympathy for you?

Obviously what Resto did is much worse than drinkin and driving but still.

Sure the young street thug who did that to Collins deserves no mercy, but the 53 year old Grandfather of today, well excuse me for having a little sympathy for him.

The man is a broken mess and obviously not a criminal mastermind by any stretch of the imagination.
He's an uneducated poor kid from the Bronx who fucked up and did a terrible thing.

But he's an old man now.

Great words, words of peace;

I hope both sides of every conflict known to all men can find what you have voiced.

Otherwise we will all just continue to suffer more and more as a whole.

Ha

Thanks.

I wasn't tryin to say anything profound or promote world peace but I did feel bad for Resto and his current condition.

[Diane]

Figures, I'm the one that posted about the radio show, and I missed it.

What did he say about Margacheato?

[markb018]

Figures, I'm the one that posted about the radio show, and I missed it.

What did he say about Margacheato?

He pretty much said I got a lifetime ban and it wasn't really proved that I did it so Margarito and his trainer should have a lifetime ban cause they were caught red handed

[JazMerkin]

Ok, I only watched the doc last night as I wanted to wait till I could watch it on my tv. I won't deny that I felt immense sympathy for Resto, he was broken as a man. Lewis is a truly disgusting individual & whilst I initially wasn't sure whether Resto was embellishing the story, Panama's reactions showed me that he wasn't. He had the same mock indignation about all of what Resto threw at him & all I saw in his lizard-like eyes was a man in shock not at the accusations, but that the man who he'd manipulated, taken advantage of & abandoned was finally calling him out on what he'd done. I have no doubt that he probably did EVERYTHING he could to ensure Resto won, clearly not for Resto, but for the money he would get from the bet.

The scene with Resto & Billy Collins' widow was amazingly powerful & the amount of respect I have for Andrea Collins is immeasurable. However, I did feel that Drath was at times manipulative of Resto & put himself in the film too much, & I didn't understand why he put Resto on the Collins' family doorstep after Billy Collins Sr said he wanted nothing to do with the film. Seemed wrong to me. I have to say though, & I know this is a terrible thing to say, but I also blamed Collins Sr to a minor extent (obviously not as much as Lewis, NYSAC or Rest). If as a number of people said, including medical professionals I believe, he could have fought again & didn't in the hope of a huge cash settlement, then he played a role in his son's death.

However, Lewis was clearly the man most responsible (along with the incompetent inspectors of NYSAC). He took advantage of Resto not having a father figure & put himself in that position for him, all the way to the end. When Resto no longer served a purpose he abandoned him. Resto seems the kind of person easily influenced & with little self-confidence. Even at the end when he confronted Panama, you could see he was still afraid of him in the way a son is always afraid of his father, although when he told him to take the glasses off, he finally got something over the bastard, who without those glasses is the clearest liar ever seen. Its a disgrace how well he's done out of it & how many top-level fighters have been willing to ignore what he's done.

[holmcall]

Ok, I only watched the doc last night as I wanted to wait till I could watch it on my tv. I won't deny that I felt immense sympathy for Resto, he was broken as a man. Lewis is a truly disgusting individual & whilst I initially wasn't sure whether Resto was embellishing the story, Panama's reactions showed me that he wasn't. He had the same mock indignation about all of what Resto threw at him & all I saw in his lizard-like eyes was a man in shock not at the accusations, but that the man who he'd manipulated, taken advantage of & abandoned was finally calling him out on what he'd done. I have no doubt that he probably did EVERYTHING he could to ensure Resto won, clearly not for Resto, but for the money he would get from the bet.

The scene with Resto & Billy Collins' widow was amazingly powerful & the amount of respect I have for Andrea Collins is immeasurable. However, I did feel that Drath was at times manipulative of Resto & put himself in the film too much, & I didn't understand why he put Resto on the Collins' family doorstep after Billy Collins Sr said he wanted nothing to do with the film. Seemed wrong to me. I have to say though, & I know this is a terrible thing to say, but I also blamed Collins Sr to a minor extent (obviously not as much as Lewis, NYSAC or Rest). If as a number of people said, including medical professionals I believe, he could have fought again & didn't in the hope of a huge cash settlement, then he played a role in his son's death.

However, Lewis was clearly the man most responsible (along with the incompetent inspectors of NYSAC). He took advantage of Resto not having a father figure & put himself in that position for him, all the way to the end. When Resto no longer served a purpose he abandoned him. Resto seems the kind of person easily influenced & with little self-confidence. Even at the end when he confronted Panama, you could see he was still afraid of him in the way a son is always afraid of his father, although when he told him to take the glasses off, he finally got something over the bastard, who without those glasses is the clearest liar ever seen. Its a disgrace how well he's done out of it & how many top-level fighters have been willing to ignore what he's done.

My association with Billy Sr. convinces me beyond any shadow of doubt that Junior could never, ever have fought again. His eyes were terribly injured and he could just about see out of them. That assault did terrible harm to Billy Sr. as well, because he loved his son dearly as only a proud Southern father and ex-very fine fighter could love a budding propsect. Just horrible.

[OumaFan]

I still haven't finished it but it does seem like a bit of a puff piece for Resto. The guy didn't shoot somebody, he's paid the price for what he does and deserved a second chance (not everybody does some things are just too bad) but meh I just think that all of what I have seen is an attempt to portray him as a victim, the "good" guy compared to Panama, which I guess he is but he wore the gloves, said he wanted to "destroy" Collins, and waltzed around the ring afterwards and the fact that he hugged Collins still bothers me. The extent of how much Resto was "manipulated" is very much up in the air to me. I also just flat out didn't believe him at times. Seems like the director succeeded in doing what he planned to do with this I don't know, I'm just cynical about this whole thing for some reason. Panama's still a shit though.

[Majesty]

Figures, I'm the one that posted about the radio show, and I missed it.

What did he say about Margacheato?

He pretty much said I got a lifetime ban and it wasn't really proved that I did it so Margarito and his trainer should have a lifetime ban cause they were caught red handed

The only reason Resto and Lewis were banned for life is because Resto won the fight and Collins died.

Sadly it's not the same for people who just get caught with things in their gloves or missing patterns, apparently they don't get the worst of it if they A) Lose or B) the fighter doesn't die.


I HATE that double standard, cheating is cheating, who cares if someone won, lost or died, it shouldnt factor in the punishment.

[El Kabong]

I seem to recall Felix Trinidad being involved in a handwrap controversy. Any other bigger names that you guys can think of that had handwrap issues

Margarito and his trainer should be banned for longer, but I think the reason they got off lighter is that they were caught with the intention of cheating, Margarito never got caught hitting someone with a loaded glove/wrap, I would say Miguel Cotto's face could be evidence, but to my knowledge he has never said anything about, he never said anything while he was int he corner or even after the fight it and even had Cotto said something about it the gloves were more than likely destroyed but the handwraps were obviously done away with so no new evidence will ever come out from any of Tony's past fights. Billy Collins said as he was in the corner "It feels like I'm being hit with a brick" and "He's stronger than I thought he would be".

Personally I think Margarito is done, did you see that piss poor effort he had against Mosley, and whenever Shane touched him Tony got hurt...I think them finding the wraps had more of a mental/psychological effect on Tony than anyone could have predicted.

[Diane]

I seem to recall Felix Trinidad being involved in a handwrap controversy. Any other bigger names that you guys can think of that had handwrap issues

Margarito and his trainer should be banned for longer, but I think the reason they got off lighter is that they were caught with the intention of cheating, Margarito never got caught hitting someone with a loaded glove/wrap, I would say Miguel Cotto's face could be evidence, but to my knowledge he has never said anything about, he never said anything while he was int he corner or even after the fight it and even had Cotto said something about it the gloves were more than likely destroyed but the handwraps were obviously done away with so no new evidence will ever come out from any of Tony's past fights. Billy Collins said as he was in the corner "It feels like I'm being hit with a brick" and "He's stronger than I thought he would be".

Personally I think Margarito is done, did you see that piss poor effort he had against Mosley, and whenever Shane touched him Tony got hurt...I think them finding the wraps had more of a mental/psychological effect on Tony than anyone could have predicted.

Actually Lyle, that one year was just based on the fact that the pad itself was illegal, and they said that it was a minumum of 1 year pending the results of the lab tests. They didn't know the results at the time of the suspension, and now that they do, I hope they make it a lifetime ban.

Miguel said he was not going to press it, because they fuked up by not having anyone in the dressing room while his hands were being wrapped.

Also, durinig Margacheato's hearing, the prosecution tried to admit evidence that he did cheat during the Cotto fight, but the commission said that they were only dealing with the Mosley fight, since the Cotto fight happened in Las Vegas.

I have the email address of the commission, and I'm going to email them, and tell them that they all need to watch that movie, and make sure that they know it's Bob Arum making that statement.

If anyone wants to send their own email to the commission, pm me, and I will give you the email address.

[C-Lo]

I didn't read the rest of the posts in this thread but I finally got a chance to watch the documentary after all this time.

I feel for Resto. He knew what was going on but he seems like a person who is easily persuaded to do what others say. I think he served his punishment already and he is looking to redeem his soul. I can respect somone who can finally come clean and admit they were wrong and live with the truth. That takes a lot. A lifetime ban was a bit harsh IMO.

Panama Lewis on the other hand is a piece of sh*t. I hope nothing but the worst for him. He did that sh*t! And his anxiousness anytime someone mentioned the scandal just makes me think he did it more and more. I believe heavily in Karma and hope it gets back to him...

[uwey]

The history of boxing goes back along time. Trainers and Fighters did this in the 20's,30's,40's,50's on up until today. Believe me when I say u would condemn alot of people even the one u may like. Dont just think it started with Panama. Those old dirty ass trainers from back in the day were 100 times worst then him. Just like most old school promoters were crooks. Dirt did not just start in this sport its been here since the beginning. Panama is a crook and a coon artist just like thousands of other Trainers, promoters, business people backing this sport. I remember an old time fighter who was friends with my father, by the name of Ike Williams telling my Pops that 80% of the sport was corrupt in one way or another. Telling him about payoffs, loaded gloves, dives. Uncle Ike knew this whole game was rigged by some real devils. Panama just learned from the original crooks. He didnt start the game. He just got caught.