
Originally Posted by
marbleheadmaui
1. Margarito hit Cotto 250 times that night. Yet Cotto's injuries were nothing like Billy Collins (the only example I know of where we can see the results of tampering). Indeed Ray Leonard looked worse after beating Tommy Hearns, Iran Barkley looked worse after losing to Roberto Duran and i can go on and on. Cotto's face I'd argue was typical for the loser in a long, grueling fight.
2. Margarito's post-fight behavior in the ring. He gets his gloves cut off pretty quickly and begins shaking hands in a ring jammed with people, Not what I'd expect from a guy with something to hide. When interviewed by Max Kellerman Margarito stands with his arm around someone and that places his still wrapped hand about two feet from Kellerman's face. ASgain, just not the behavior I'd expect of a guy with someone to hide.
Now it is hardly a conclusive case, but it is how I'd bet. Here's the post fight video where EVERYONE can get a good look at Margarito's hands.
Interesting.
I came to it from the angle that people kept asking why he would do it for the first time against Mosley. I'll say that I don't believe it was the first time he or his team attempted it. However, the only occasion previously that I strongly believe he may have done it was the Lujan fight, as on that occasion there was horrific damage done by punches which he seemingly wasn't putting all his force into & at the end he was in no rush to take off those gloves & when he did was heavily surrounded at all times by his team.
Anyway back to the Mosley question. If that was the first time there were a number of reasons why that might be. Margarito had apparently been partying plenty after beating Cotto & had had real trouble with the weight & was reportedly really struggling in sparring. Add to that, Mosley still had his iron chin (which I can almost pinpoint the moment it cracked but that's another thread). Capetillo is a boxing man & would've looked at all that & thought 'shit, there could be real problems here'. He would've looked at Mosley's reach & foreseen real issues getting him to break in the way they did Cotto. Cotto let's bear in mind had chin issues long before Margarito & as high as everyone was on him, the second half of the Mosley fight showed he had issues with stamina & output. Those would be exactly the kind of issues that Margarito with his chin, workrate & stamina would be able to test. I think there would be in fact far more reason to load for Mosley given the surrounding factors than otherwise.
As I said, I believe he maybe did do it before that, but only on occasions where he could get away with it and/or really needed to. A smaller venue show like the Lujan one coming off the back of the Santos loss or on 'home' turf in Cali would seem to fit that more than in Las Vegas against the guy who at that point seemed to be groomed as Top Rank's new poster boy & was being lined up to fight De La Hoya with a win. We'll never know, but let's face it Cotto looked much the same after Pacquiao landed a similar number of punches on it. Although don't go thinking I'm an apologist.
I believe Margarito & Capetillo should've been banned for life just like Resto & Lewis were.
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