KIDWCKED
11-13-2010, 01:46 AM
c/p from foxsports by Mark Kriegel Updated Nov 12, 2010 5:04 PM ET
It’s not like cheating in the other sports. Loading your gloves isn’t like corking your bat. There’s a special level of hell reserved for the guys who cheat in boxing.
But that, more than anything, is what endows Saturday’s fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium with its drama.
Margarito, as Freddie Roach likes to say, “is a cheater.” On Jan. 24, 2009, just moments before he was to fight Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Margarito was found to have plaster-like inserts in his hand wraps. Now as then, Margarito insisted he knew nothing of it. But the presumption of his innocence ended later that night when Mosley busted him up. Long thought to be a relentless Terminator of Mexican origin, Margarito fell in nine rounds, along with his reputation for indestructibility and honor.
“That doesn’t bother me,” Margarito told me last week at his camp in Oxnard, Calif. “I’m very calm because I know I’m innocent. I know I never used anything illegal to win fights.”
His wiry goatee is a couple months old now. Combined with his naturally nefarious visage, it makes him look more villainous than ever. He’s perfect for this fight, an antidote to the populist Filipino congressman who croons for Jimmy Kimmel. Still, I wanted to believe Margarito — and almost did before he and his stablemate, a big mouth named Brandon Rios, were caught on tape goofing on Roach, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease.
Pacquiao’s trainer earned his tremors the hard way — taking punches as an overly courageous lightweight in the 1980s. It’s difficult enough taking honest shots. Roach isn’t inclined to forgive a fighter caught with loaded wraps, especially after watching Margarito’s fights.
What he saw of Margarito was an immutable style: straight ahead, constant punching, more relentless than skilled. What varied is the amount of damage he inflicts. His fight before Mosley was Miguel Cotto. Masterful in beating Margarito through the first half of their fight, Cotto was left a bloody mess. The previous fight, a rematch against Kermit Cintron also ended with Margarito winning by TKO.
“The first thing every fighter wants to do after the fight ends is have his gloves removed,” said Roach. “If you look at the second Cintron fight, Margarito keeps his gloves on. He’s wearing them when he leaves the ring. Why?”
“I know there are still people who don’t believe me,” Margarito said last week. “But hopefully after this fight, they will.”
He’s got a point. The only way he can really prove himself a semi-honest fighter — if still somewhat despicable, on account of the video — is to beat up Pacquiao the same way he beat up Cotto. The rest of the world might see it differently. Given the never-ending confusion between victory and virtue, a win itself would seem enough to ensure the perception of redemption. And I think Margarito can do it. I like Pacquiao here. But not but by much. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the bad guy win.
It’s not like cheating in the other sports. Loading your gloves isn’t like corking your bat. There’s a special level of hell reserved for the guys who cheat in boxing.
But that, more than anything, is what endows Saturday’s fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium with its drama.
Margarito, as Freddie Roach likes to say, “is a cheater.” On Jan. 24, 2009, just moments before he was to fight Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Margarito was found to have plaster-like inserts in his hand wraps. Now as then, Margarito insisted he knew nothing of it. But the presumption of his innocence ended later that night when Mosley busted him up. Long thought to be a relentless Terminator of Mexican origin, Margarito fell in nine rounds, along with his reputation for indestructibility and honor.
“That doesn’t bother me,” Margarito told me last week at his camp in Oxnard, Calif. “I’m very calm because I know I’m innocent. I know I never used anything illegal to win fights.”
His wiry goatee is a couple months old now. Combined with his naturally nefarious visage, it makes him look more villainous than ever. He’s perfect for this fight, an antidote to the populist Filipino congressman who croons for Jimmy Kimmel. Still, I wanted to believe Margarito — and almost did before he and his stablemate, a big mouth named Brandon Rios, were caught on tape goofing on Roach, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease.
Pacquiao’s trainer earned his tremors the hard way — taking punches as an overly courageous lightweight in the 1980s. It’s difficult enough taking honest shots. Roach isn’t inclined to forgive a fighter caught with loaded wraps, especially after watching Margarito’s fights.
What he saw of Margarito was an immutable style: straight ahead, constant punching, more relentless than skilled. What varied is the amount of damage he inflicts. His fight before Mosley was Miguel Cotto. Masterful in beating Margarito through the first half of their fight, Cotto was left a bloody mess. The previous fight, a rematch against Kermit Cintron also ended with Margarito winning by TKO.
“The first thing every fighter wants to do after the fight ends is have his gloves removed,” said Roach. “If you look at the second Cintron fight, Margarito keeps his gloves on. He’s wearing them when he leaves the ring. Why?”
“I know there are still people who don’t believe me,” Margarito said last week. “But hopefully after this fight, they will.”
He’s got a point. The only way he can really prove himself a semi-honest fighter — if still somewhat despicable, on account of the video — is to beat up Pacquiao the same way he beat up Cotto. The rest of the world might see it differently. Given the never-ending confusion between victory and virtue, a win itself would seem enough to ensure the perception of redemption. And I think Margarito can do it. I like Pacquiao here. But not but by much. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the bad guy win.