Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

CSAC suspends license of Antonio Margarito

By Zach Arnold | January 28, 2009

Print Friendly and PDF

Statement by California Athletic Commission Chair Tim Noonan

Following is a statement by Tim Noonan, Chairman of the California Athletic Commission, regarding Antonio Margarito:

“The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has temporarily suspended the licenses of Antonio Margarito and his chief corner man, Javier Capetillo. The temporary suspension will remain in effect until CSAC has fully investigated the circumstances surrounding events at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on January 24, 2009. A foreign substance was found by California State Athletic Commission staff in the hand wraps of Antonio Margarito before his bout against Shane Mosley at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The substance found in Margarito’s hand wraps is currently being analyzed by the California Department of Justice. An investigation as to whether either licensee violated CSAC rules is ongoing. Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo have been asked to appear at an initial hearing scheduled for February 10, 2009.

“The licenses of Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo were suspended pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 18842, which allows for the temporary suspension of a license when such an action is necessary to ‘protect the public welfare.’ CSAC Rule 323 limits the amount and type of gauze and tape allowed under a fighter’s boxing glove. Rule 390 allows CSAC to discipline a licensee when his or her actions are a “discredit to boxing” or violate the rules of CSAC.

“Commission staff will have no further comment until such time as the Commission makes a final determination of whether licensee actions in this case warrant fines, suspensions, or the revocation of licenses. The Commission has asked Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo to appear at an initial hearing currently scheduled for February 10, 2009.”

Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

19 Responses to “CSAC suspends license of Antonio Margarito”

  1. liger05 says:

    will be interesting to see how this plays out. Arum was still talking about cotto v margarito 2 after last weeks fight.

  2. Jim Allcorn says:

    Wow.

    How’s that saying go? The one about those who are ignorant of the past being doomed to repeat it …

    If these individuals did what they’re being investigated for ( & it looks pretty damn bad for them, guilt-wise ), then they’re this generation’s Luis Resto & Panama Lewis.

    And they’ll be remembered as such.

    Margarito’s legacy is going to be destroyed by this. And all of his accomplishments questioned.

    His career might just be done.

    As for how this will effect boxing, it’s a scandal that’s definitely going to get a lot of play from the press for a while. But, since no one was injured & Mosley wound up beating the hell out of him en route to victory, it won’t be as big of a deal as it could have been.

  3. Just another mark says:

    Doesn’t he CSAC have inspectors during the handwrapping BEFORE the fighters even leave the locker before their fight? Yes. If so, it is, why wasn’t this addressed by a CSAC inspector before he was even allowed to go to the ring?

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    The one I feel bad for is Miguel Cotto. He has already beaten Shane Mosley. It is likely that he could have beaten Margarito if the guy wasn’t fighting with a loaded glove.

    And people will say that the glove had no difference in the Margarito/Cotto fight, and I couldn’t disagree more.

    Getting hit by a much harder object can take stamina out of a fighter. And that is exactly why Cotto had no problem having such a torrid pace against Mosley, but got so tired in the Margarito fight. Not to mention the thuds against his skull.

  5. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Just another,

    Yeah, that’s what the article is saying, they found something when they were observing the wrapping. That’s why this is so weird, there is always supposed to be someone witnessing the wrapping and usually they have to initial them as well once they’re done to ensure they aren’t tampered with.

    I wonder how someone could think they could get away with putting something in or on the wrappings?

    This really could be anything too, they’re quite vague. It could be some kind of object (metal?) or it could be some kind of cream (a numbing agent? antibiotic salve?)…just really weird.

  6. Jim Allcorn says:

    J (NTJ),
    They’re investigating a “plaster of Paris” type substance that was inserted beneath the gauze & tape of the wraps of both of Margarito’s hands ( soon to be fists ).

    Obviously Margarito’s chief cornerman, this Capetillo, figured out or picked up this “trick” to give his man a distinct advantage in weaponry. Only this time he got caught.

  7. Chuck says:

    I don’t think this will affect Margarito’s legacy that much. Felix Trinidad got away with it, and got caught right before his fight against Bernard Hopkins. Coincidentally, it was Nazim Richardson (trainer of Hopkins against Trinidad and trainer of Mosley vs. Margarito) who caught both Trinidad and Margarito. Seriously, they should have Nazim Richardson to review every fighters’ hand wrappings before every fight. The man has a hell of a talent for searching out things like that.

    45,

    Just because Cotto beat Mosley, and Mosley beat Margarito, that doesn’t necessarily mean Cotto should have beaten Margarito. Styles make fights, and fight math is almost never correct. There is a ton of proof out there that fight math isn’t true. Some guys are absolute Kryptonite against certain guys. Like Chiquita Gonzalez was against Michael Carbajal. Carbajal was almost certainly the better fighter over Gonzalez, but Gonzalez beat Carbajal in both of their fights. It goes back to styles make fights. But you might be on to something when it came to how Margarito beat Cotto. If Margarito had loaded gloves against Cotto, then that may have been a major factor in why Cotto lost. Then again, Cotto has been proven to have a suspect chin.

  8. Jim Allcorn says:

    Of course now, all these chief inspectors of the various state athletic commissions where Margarito’s fought recently as well as all the cornermen & trainers whose job it was to inspect Margarito’s wraps lately, are all saying that this must be something new that Capetillo began doing with this fight. Which, may actually be the case.

    But, the likelihood of that is VERY slim, don’t you think?

    I mean, c’mon they’re going to say that because they’re all covering their asses. They don’t want to admit that this sort of tampering could have gotten past them.

    But, hell, for all we know, Tony Margarito & his people could have been doing this since his prelim days.

  9. Jim Allcorn says:

    Chuck,
    Whoa.

    What Pops Trinidad did with his tape & gauze was COMPLETELY different than what Capetillo did with Margarito’s wraps IMO.

    What Richardson found in Trinidad’s locker room was a technique of wrapping that wasn’t legal & he protested to the NYSAC & got Tito’s Dad to re-wrap his hands.
    The press made a big deal about it, but it was nowhere near being the criminal act that the introduction of a foreign substance into a fighter’s wraps is.

  10. Fluyid says:

    Let me tell you about these inspectors. I know whereof I speak, because I’ve been one and I’ve worked a lot of fight cards as one.

    Many inspectors don’t really care too much about what they’re doing. The vast, vast majority pretty much just sign off on anything.

    I could tell stories about illegal handwrapping jobs being signed off on in New Jersey, but I’ll just say that the inspectors as a whole aren’t that stellar of a group.

  11. Chuck says:

    Jim,

    You are correct sir. My bad. I remember Trinidad’s fight after that (against Hacine Cherifi) that Trinidad’s people caught Cherifi’s people doing it, so they were re-wrapped. But then minutes later Trinidad’s people did the SAME FUCKING THING and got away with it. How Trinidad got away with it against Cherifi and everyone knew about it beforehand is beyond me. Oh yeah, I forgot, Cherifi’s people let it happen. They were probably afraid that Trinidad’s people would pull out last minute and find a new opponent. I wouldn’t put it past them to do that. Just pull Cheirif out and get someone who was to fight on the undercard to replace Cherifi. But the fight happened, Trinidad dominated, and the rest was history.

  12. mr. Roadblock says:

    Fluyid is correct. I was about to make essentially the same post. If seen csac inspectors watch hands get illegally wrapped. I think most inspectors don’t really know what they’re looking for. Also they get lulled to sleep by the monotony of wrappig hands or get bored. They generally just man sire he tape doesn’t go too high up the fingers and feel the wrist or knuckle area. A lot of trainers sneak tape acorss the knuckles then Lengthwise then acoss making what is similar to a cast.

    They said margarito had something wet that was getting harder. That’s serious and dangerous cheating. Margarito typically starts slow then lands powerful shots late. Right now it appears that it is because of cheating. Cotto was destroying margarito for six rounds then margaritos bombs wore him out to the body. As I pointed out in my prefight post where I predicted a mosley win I said cottoaid out how to beat margarito.

    I suspect margaritos trainer does some sort of sleight of hand where he gets that substance in tv wraps. Ichatdson was likely tipped off and waitied ti the hands were wrapped thn challged them. The hands were wrapped three times which suggests no one actually saw the trainer do his thing. So the second wrapping was undone. To make sure the Sam trick wasn’t pulled.

  13. Chuck says:

    Here’s a thought that just came to me……what if Margarito never knew that his trainer puts shit in his hand wrapping? It’s a plausible thought. Much more plausible than when athletes testing positive for banned substances going “Oh, I didn’t know they were in me” or “I didn’t know they were banned”.

    http://www.thering-online.com/blog/269/margaritos_doctored_hand_wraps_if_true_couldve_resulted_in_tragedy/

    Good read up. Even Nazim Richardson admitted that Margarito may have not known about his trainer’s wrong-doing. But we don’t know that for sure.

  14. spacedog says:

    I’m confused, WHEN did the illegal wraps get found? If it was before the fight why did the fight go on?

  15. szappan says:

    To spacedog:
    From my understanding the illegal substance was found before the fight. The inspector confiscated the wraps and made them re-wrap. The fight was then allowed to continue as 20,000+ fans were waiting.

    To expand on the Trinidad’s wraps, I was at an Everlast presentation in New York City (Dec. ’01) where Trinidad Sr. spoke. He explained that he used the exact same regulated amount of tape and gauze as anyone else, but that he layered it differently – instead of all gauze and then all tape, that he would use alternating layers of tape, gauze, tape, gauze, tape, etc. He argued that it’s the same thing as the amounts don’t change.

    I’d disagree but then again, I’m just a guy posting online.

  16. Fluyid says:

    “I think most inspectors don’t really know what they’re looking for. Also they get lulled to sleep by the monotony of wrappig hands or get bored. They generally just man sire he tape doesn’t go too high up the fingers and feel the wrist or knuckle area. A lot of trainers sneak tape acorss the knuckles then Lengthwise then acoss making what is similar to a cast.”

    Bingo.

    That’s 1000% correct.

  17. 45 Huddle says:

    According to Sherdog, Helio Gracie died. He was 95.

  18. Chuck says:

    Helio Died?! Damn. I thought that dude would live forever. Well, RIP. Where would BJJ be without him?

  19. matthew says:

    I hope this isn’t true. But I think no matter how it plays out Margarito is damaged. His rep will be in question for ever and if its true hes done.

Comments

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image