Manny Steward on Miguel Cotto-Julio Cesar Chavez -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

In this Q&A, legendary trainer, Manny Steward, shares his thoughts on the WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) bout between Miguel Cotto and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. that is being planned by Top Rank Promotions for Dec. 4 likely at either at New York's Madison Square Garden or the MGM Gand in Las Vegas.

Steward will be in his second fight with the 29-year-old Cotto (35-2, 28 knockouts) of Puerto Rico, who is coming off of June's ninth-round knockout that dethronedYuri Foreman. Steward said that he once trained the father of Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KOs), of Mexico, and had been considered to train the son.

The bout also matches Steward against four-time Trainer of the Year, Freddie Roach.


FanHouse: How big is the fact that Miguel Cotto and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. -- the son of the former champion -- are otentially going to fight on Dec. 4?

Manny Steward: Well, it looks like it's going to happen, first of all. It's a very intriguing ffight, and it looks like it's going to be at Madison Square Garden, too. I think that it will be at The Garden. They're getting ready for the fight.


How intriguing is it from a fan's point of view that you have Mexico against Puerto Rico in Julio Cesar Chavez going against Miguel Cotto, and then the trainers Freddie Roach against Manny Steward, and at The Garden, where Cotto is unbeaten in six fights?

Yeah, you can't forget about the fact that Freddie Roach will be in the other corner, yeah. There are a lot of story angles involved in this fight. Even more than what you mentioned is the fact that Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. had actually asked me to train his son.


When did that happen?

Well, when I was down at the Dallas Cowboys' Stadium for the [March 13] Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight, who comes over and comes over and grabs me on the shoulder, as if, like in desperation? 'Steward, Steward, you've got to help my son, he's got to help him. Big fight coming up with John Duddy,' and, 'give me your phone number please.'

I just told him to give me a call, and I think, at the time, I was working on Wladimir Klitschk's fight with Eddie Chambers [12th-round knockout on March 20.] Ithink that he was unable to get in touch with me while I was over there in Germany, so I guess they decided to take him on over to Freddie's gym.


What about the fact that you once trained Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.?

It's going to be strange for me to be going into the ring against the son of one of the former fighters that I trained. I just had to do that this past week, with Cornelius Bundrage against Leon Spinks' son, Cory Spinks [fifth-round knockout for Bunderage that dethroned Spinks as IBF junior middleweight champion.]

You know, Leon lived across the street from me in Detroit, so I took over as his manager and trainer for a while. I had him for three or four fights. The night before the fight with Bundrage, Leon was talking to me about it like, 'I never thought that you would be training someone to fight against my son.' I said, 'I bet that you never thought that you would have a son in this position either, did you?'


Which fights did you train Julio Cesar Chavez for?

After the first loss that Julio Cesar Chavez lost to Frankie Randall, that's when Don King and those guys asked me to come in and do what I'm doing with Miguel Cotto now. I came in and helped him the rematch with Frankie Randall [won by Chavez by eighth-round technical decision.]

I also trained him for the rematch with Meldrick Taylor and his fight with Tony Lopez [eighth and 10th round knockouts.] I would have stayed with him longer, but then, I decided to go with Lennox Lewis.

I remember Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and, Omar Chavez, his two sons when they were little kids, they were always with us all of the time. When we've interviewed his son for HBO's fighter meetings, I ask him all of the time, and we talk about it all of the time. I've known him since they were babies.

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com

Cheato Bandito: Antonio Margarito knew guns were illegally loaded -- Examiner

By Michael Marley, Examiner.com

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of the Antonio Margarito saga.

It plays like a bad telenovela.

Margarito is being shoved by Grandpa Bob Arum down our throats like that awful tasting Castor Oil we had take when were kids suffering from a cold or the flu.

There's been no public outcry for Pacman-Margocheato that I've noticed.

If Margarito had “warrior-like pride” would he have knowingly gone along with ex-trainer Javier Capetillo loaded handwraps scheme for the Shane Mosley fight?

We'll never know if Margarito and Capetillo, who the crafty Arum threw under the bus immediately when the boxing police showed up and caught the Mexican fighter plaster handed, schemed to defraud and brutalize Miguel Cotto when they rumbled in Las Vegas.

We'll never know if they did it in other fights on other nights but the suspicion lingers on like the smell of rotten eggs.

But I do know that Cotto will go to his grave thinking the Tijuana Tornado cheated him just like he and Capetillo attempted to do to Mosley in Los Angeles.

Can you blame Cotto for his strong suspicions? Margarito was no novice, no four round prelim kid, he was a veteran of 50 pro bouts the night of the Mosley fight.

Pacquiao said it and colleagues such as Ricky Hatton and Oscar de la Hoya agreed that Margocheato knew what was in his handwraps just like any experienced fighter would know.

Arum, who could sell swamp land during a tsunami, wants us to think that Capetillo acted alone and that Tone Loc was in the dark about the nefarious and illegal conduct.

I guess, using Bob's explainer, that Capetillo planned to surprise Margarito after they won, maybe just before the fighter paid his trainer's fee, with a big guess what, that Capetillo was going to reveal the secret ingredients of their success to the boxer then.

Yeah, that's the ticket, Capetillo was planning to reveal later ask his boxer for a cash bonus.

Really, heaping all the blame on Capetillo appears to be a scheme and is highly insulting to Margarito when you think it through.

No, Margarito did not know, could not have known. He's just the fighter, a dummy and a complete tool for his trainer.

What a bunch of hooey, Capetillo worked for Margarito and not the other way around.

Sorry, Bob, I am all for Margarito getting a license and complete clearance to fight from the California commission next week.

He did his time and he did not try to sneak in a fight in Mexico or elsewhere.

Now let the man make a living.

But all Arum will see here as to the “Capetillo acted alone” tale here is a “no sale” sign.

Margarito should be allowed to ply his trade but he should not be getting rewarded so soon with the big payday from the Pacman bout.

But, hey, he's Bob's Bobo so that's why Arum disregards public opinion and shoves him in there. He also gets the disgraced Maragrito for an old Chevy, a few salted peanuts and a few measly pesos.

Margarito appeals to Arm's inner cheapness.

But don't tell me, don't even try to sell me, that Capetillo was the lone cheater in that dressing room, that he acted alone like the Warren Commission said JFK killer Lee Harvey Oswald did.

California chose the time that they felt fit the crime.

The fighter stayed inactive. So now let him work again.

But I know that Margarito did know what went into his handwraps because a veteran carpenter knows and inspects his tools.

Personally, I had my hands wrapped for about 15 Golden Gloves and other amateur bouts and as many intercollegiate fights for the University of Nevada, Reno.

I had to quit when the referees kept stepping on my hands, sure, but I always knew what was in my handwraps and I studiously watched how they were wrapped.

What was Margarito doing that night in LA when the wrapping took place, using his other hand to check his Twitter page?

Come off it.

Or, to mix metaphors as is my wont, that Mosley bout, well that wasn't Margarito's first rodeo.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: examiner.com