By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Antonio Margarito has claimed no knowledge of the illegal hand wrappings in his gloves that led to a scandal that cost him his American boxing license for more than a year
But Freddie Roach, the trainer of Margarito's next opponent, Manny Pacquiao, does not mince words when expressing his belief that Margarito is lying.
"You have fu****g rocks in your hand, you know it," Roach told Robert Morales of BoxingScene.com late last month. But in a recent video interview with FanHouse's E. Casey Leydon and Esther Lin, the 50-year-old four-time Trainer of the Year, took his assertions to another level.
Roach had an angry response to a scene from HBO's 24/7 series, during which Margarito and trainer, Robert Garcia, mocked the controversy by placing a large, cinder block on Margarito's hand as Garcia pretended to wrap the fighter in preparation for sparring.
"When you're caught doing something, you don't make fun of it," said Roach. "In my mind, to do that, and get caught, it's like, you should be guilty. And if proven guilty, then it's attempted murder."
Margarito (38-6, 27 knockouts) has a Nov. 13, HBO pay-per-view televised, Top Rank Promotions battle opposite Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king who takes a 12-fight winning streak that includes eight KOs into their clash in pursuit of an eighth title in as many different weight divisions.
Since the discovery was made by trainer Naazim Richardson of a plaster-like substance that was removed and confiscated prior to Margarito's ninth-round knockout loss to Shane Mosley at the Los Angeles Staples Center in January of 2009, many in the boxing world, and, Roach and Pacquiao, in particular, have speculated that Margarito's trainer, Javier Capetillo, may have loaded Margarito's gloves in other fights.
"I think he [Margarito] knew what he was doing, but he's already been punished enough," Pacquiao told FanHouse during a recent chat with Michael David Smith. "I can't say for sure what he did or didn't know, but I'm just a fighter, and I fight."
Garcia just believes that his rival fighter and trainer are getting nervous.
"What it looks like is that we're getting into their heads a little bit, now. Freddie Roach started out trying to play games, and now, everything is turning around. Freddie can say whatever he wants, but they're the ones who started that whole thing any way," said Garcia, referring to a scene in 24/7 where Pacquiao feigns closing his eyes, and looking away as an imaginary trainer places wraps on his hands.
"You know, on 24/7, Manny was saying, 'how could he not know?' And he was making those faces and closing his eyes like he was a fighter who was not going to watch his hands being wrapped. We were just making jokes in response to Manny making fun of Tony on 24/7," said Garcia.
"That was how Manny tried to make it look -- like Tony knew something about the wraps. You know, Tony's been trying to tell everyone that he didn't know," said Garcia. "The bottom line is that we were just doing what they did, you know, and getting back at them. So, now, it seems like it is starting to work."
Some of the belief by Pacquiao, Roach and others has been leveled against Capetillo in relation to Margarito's vanquished rivals such as Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto, whom Margarito beat savagely and bloodily before scoring knockouts.
Roach has said that after having studied up to seven of Margarito's recent fights, he believes that Margarito may have had loaded wraps in five or six of them.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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