For almost two years, Antonio Margarito has been a fighter in exile, scorned as a cheater and banned in the USA from the sport he loves so much.
After the rugged, 32-year-old Mexican fighter was caught with illegal hand wraps before his welterweight title fight vs. "Sugar" Shane Mosley in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2009, his reputation was shattered and his boxing career was effectively put on hold.
Margarito all but disappeared from the boxing public. Angry fans called him Marga-cheat-o.To add injury to insult, Mosley soundly whipped Margarito with a ninth-round TKO, taking Margarito's dignity and his WBA welterweight title.
The California State Athletic Commission slapped the Torrance, Calif., native who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, with a one-year suspension. Several months ago, the commission denied Margarito's application to become licensed in the state. He did get licensed in Texas.
Saturday night (HBO pay-per-view, 9) at Cowboys Stadium in front of up to 60,000 fans, Margarito will seek redemption when he meets the man regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), for the vacant WBC super welterweight (150-pound catch weight) title.
Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) has denied knowledge of the contents of his hand wraps, saying his trainer at the time, Javier Capetillo, was the only one who knew about them. The California commission found the wraps contained a mixture of sulfur and calcium, which, when combined with oxygen, forms a substance similar to plaster of Paris.
Only recently has Margarito been able to openly deal with the negativity surrounding the controversy. On the second episode of HBO's reality series 24/7 last week, Margarito and his new trainer, highly respected Robert Garcia, jokingly tied a big slab of concrete to Margarito's hand.
For the most part, Margarito, who has fought once since the Mosley bout — a 10-round decision against Roberto Garcia in Mexico in May — has moved on.
"I try not to dwell on the negative," he said during a conference call with reporters last week. "I know people will ask the questions and I have to answer, and I have no problem with them.
"To me, right now all I am concentrating on is the fight. I know it is going to be asked, but for me I have to concentrate on the fight. Everything is in the past. … It is going to be a super fight, and I can't wait to be up in the ring."
While Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, has said he thought Margarito knew about the illegal wraps, he said he and Pacquiao had moved past the incident.
"It helps the fight in general for the press and the notoriety, but it doesn't change the fight at all, because it will be on the up and up and both will be equally hand-wrapped," Roach said.
"To me, he was suspended for a year, he did his time, and now he is a free man and he is eligible to fight. It is the best fight out there for us right now.
"Everyone knows Margarito throws punches. He is a volume puncher; he is a three-time world champion. We've got our hands full, but we are ready and have what it takes to beat him."
Margarito said he was thankful for the second chance.
"I want to show everyone that I belong at this level against the best fighter in the world, and that's one of the things I want to do for this fight," Margarito said. "I know it is a great opportunity. I know how hard it was to make the fight real, and I'm very happy that it's finally here."
Source: usatoday.com
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