By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
Since reporting Wednesday night that Top Rank was planning a fight for disgraced former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito and that it believes he will be licensed by the Texas commission, the reaction to the story from people inside the boxing industry has been swift and strong.
Several industry insiders called or e-mailed me on Thursday to vent their disgust at the notion after reading the story, and I can't say I blame them. I was a little ill just reporting the facts, which are that Margacheato is likely to receive a license in Texas to fight Carson Jones on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey welterweight title fight at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington on March 13 (HBO PPV).
We all know the story by now, about how Margacheato and trainer Javier Capetillo had their licenses revoked in February '09 by the California State Athletic Commission a few weeks after it was discovered that before Margacheato fought (and got drilled by) Shane Mosley that his gloves had been loaded with illegal pads coated with a plaster-like substance.
Few buy Margacheato's plea of ignorance, and many question the legitimacy of his other victories, including his knockout win against Miguel Cotto in the fight before he faced Mosley. Boxing fans around the world were disgusted by the blatant attempt to cheat and the thought of the potential damage he could have done to Mosley in an unfair fight.
If you want to see what happens in that kind of situation, just watch the recent HBO documentary "Assault in the Ring" (just out on DVD) which chronicles the story of the scandalous 1983 fight at Madison Square Garden in which junior middleweight Luis Resto and evil trainer Panama Lewis removed the padding from his gloves before Resto disfigured Billy Collins Jr. over 10 rounds.
Resto and Lewis were banned from boxing for life and served prison time, as they deserved. Margacheato, now that a year since the license revocation is just about up, will be eligible to be licensed by commissions around the country. However, Texas is considering giving Margacheato a license without him having to go before the California commission again to ask for one. It's technically within the rules, but it will be a horrible decision if Texas gives the cheater a license.
It's also a bit disturbing that Top Rank and its chairman, Bob Arum, would support it, especially since Arum promoted the Resto-Collins fight and knows as well as anyone what might have happened had Margacheato entered the ring with loaded gloves.
Main Events chief Kathy Duva described the possibility of Margacheato being licensed as "sooo wrong!" in an e-mail to me.
Even Jones' manager, Bobby Dobbs, expressed mixed feelings.
"If my fighter wasn't being given the opportunity of a lifetime and a huge payday, I am not sure if I would think he should fight either," he wrote me.
The most scathing e-mail came from promoter Jeff Wald from "The Contender."
"Of all the many disgusting things I have seen in boxing, this ranks near the worst," Wald wrote to me. "There is no way he didn't know what was in his gloves. I can't believe Arum would support this guy and have him fight after he was responsible for almost destroying Cotto, who is also handled by Arum. … The rest of the U.S. should never give him a license and California should now bar him for life with no appeal. Texas obviously does not care about fighters or their health. Panama Lewis was barred for life and so should Magarito."
Source: sports.espn.go.com
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