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Gary Russell’s chief second, Rodrigo Mosquera, allowed by Andy Foster to return 4 months after CSAC upheld suspension for altering gloves

By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2014

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The on-going saga of suspended California boxing trainer Rodrigo Mosquera continues, thanks to decisions made by Andy Foster as Executive Director of the California State Athletic Commission.

At an All-Star Boxing event last September in Montebello, California, Mosquera was caught with a fighter named Ricardo Rodriguez using altered boxing gloves for a fight. The referee, Lou Moret, caught the altered gloves in time and replacement gloves were issued. MMA inspector Chris Crail and volunteer boxing inspector Robert Judge missed the altered gloves. Crail took heat for the incident while Judge was summarily promoted to the role of a lead athletic inspector in Southern California under circumstances eerily similar to how Che Guevara got promoted in 2009 after missing the illegal hand wraps of Antonio Margarito before his fight against Shane Mosley at the Staples Center.

Mosquera and Rodriguez received temporary suspension letters in the mail from Andy Foster in late November. The disclosure of these letters were not made public until the afternoon of December 13, 2013. That same day, athletic inspectors were sent to work a Golden Boy event at Fantasy Springs in Indio, California. Apparently no on the ground knew what was going on because Rodrigo Mosquera appeared at that televised card and was given a new seconds license, which lasts for a full year. This information was publicly released by the Athletic Commission on January 4th, 2014.

Mosquera worked despite being temporarily suspended by the California State Athletic Commission. Mosquera would go on to work a late January Golden Boy event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn while claiming that he had not been notified of his temporary California suspension despite the fact that we wrote about this publicly in mid-December. Mosquera appealed his temporary suspension in mid-January on the grounds that he had not been properly notified.

Mosquera was originally summoned to attend a December meeting for the California State Athletic Commission at Consumer Affairs HQ in Sacramento. Instead, he ended up appearing at a February 10th CSAC meeting in Los Angeles. At that meeting, Andy Foster inexplicably recommended that both Rodriguez and Mosquera be given time served and suspensions lifted. As noted by the official meeting minutes, Mosquera was suspended the maximum fine of $2,500 and iced until his commission license expired.

Remember, he was supposedly given a new license at the December 2013 Golden Boy show (according to athletic commission documentation from January 2014).

After the suspension, Mosquera was allegedly in attendance at a boxing event in Montebello in which athletic inspectors such as Dave Rasmussen had to read Mosquera the riot act for giving a fighter advice from the audience.

Fast-forward to Saturday, June 21st at a Golden Boy event at StubHub Center in Southern California. The event was part of a telecast for Showtime. One of the fights on the card featured Gary Russell Jr. vs. Vasyl Lomachenko. Russell Jr. fought at the Golden Boy event at Barclays last January. He is one of Rodrigo Mosquera’s fighters. Mosquera was spotted at the StubHub Center wrapping Gary Russell Jr’s hands for his fight. People at the show were stunned, given that Mosquera’s license suspension was upheld by the Athletic Commission board in February.

It turns out that approximately three months after that February meeting, Rodrigo Mosquera was granted a new manager’s license by Andy Foster. According to Athletic Commission documentation dated June 19th, Rodrigo Mosquera was issued a new manager’s license on May 15th. The manager’s license was issued by the Sacramento front office. There was no hearing in front of the Athletic Commission board to determine whether or not Mosquera, who had been suspended by the Athletic Commission for cheating, should be granted a new manager’s license after what transpired last September.

Russell, entering the fight with a record of 24-0, fought Lomachenko whose record was 1-1. It was a WBO Featherweight title fight. As The Big Lead wrote about Lomachenko, this amateur boxing legend is about to have the biggest pro fight of his life. Russell was dominated by Lomachenko.

If Russell had won two more rounds, it would have been a majority draw on the score cards…

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

3 Responses to “Gary Russell’s chief second, Rodrigo Mosquera, allowed by Andy Foster to return 4 months after CSAC upheld suspension for altering gloves”

  1. Chris says:

    The CASAC is a joke. And Lisa Giampa should not be allowed to judge any more Boxing matches.

    As for Gary Russell, you have the perfect example of how not to develop a talented prospect. Giving a fighter soft touches for his first 24 bouts set him up for failure when he finally had to fight someone that was legit.

    • Tomer says:

      And he didn’t even get the level of payday leading up to his first L that, say, Andre Berto did before Victor Ortiz…

  2. rst says:

    “Crail took heat for the incident while Judge was summarily promoted to the role of a lead athletic inspector in Southern California under circumstances eerily similar to how Che Guevara got promoted…”

    dana and zuffa’s creepy shenanigans seem almost quaint and innocent compared to the vile and nausiating machinations of big league traditionally sactioned sports.

    Thats why MMA cant get into nu york.
    Its not corrupt enough.

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