According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, disgraced former Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito was told by the Nevada Athletic Commission that he first my be granted a boxing License in the State of California before they would consider a license in it’s state.
The California State Athletic Commission revoked Margarito’s license following his Jan. 24, 2009 ninth-round knockout loss to Shane Mosley in a welterweight championship fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles over a hand-wrapping scandal that erupted in the dressing room in the moments before he was supposed to walk to the ring.
“If I would have noticed there was something irregular or wrong I would have been the first person to say I can’t go out and fight,” Margarito said through a translator.
“I think he needs to go to California and clean this matter up,” commissioner Raymond “Skip” Avansino said during the hearing. “They should be the first to rule.”
Commission chairwoman Pat Lundvall, the lone dissenting vote, argued strongly on Margarito’s behalf both for taking a vote and for licensing him.
“I do not think he has a duty legally or morally to go back to California,” she said. “It is incumbent upon this commission to act upon the application. … There is no value in kicking the can down the road.”
“We were hopeful that the commission would rule on the application after hearing our presentation and hearing Antonio answer all of their questions. He did and he did magnificently,” David Marroso, Margarito’s attorney, told ESPN.com after the hearing. “We’re disappointed in their decision to, using their words, kick the can down the road, but we heard their instructions. Antonio, his family, the lawyers and Top Rank will huddle and decide what options we’ll pursue.
“We believe he has paid his price. He’s taken responsibility. We will assess our options and keep fighting just like he’s always done. We will continue to fight. He didn’t become Antonio Margarito by just staying down.”
“I understand their position, but don’t necessarily agree with it,” said Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who was at the hearing while Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was in Puerto Rico promoting Saturday’s Juan Manuel Lopez-Bernabe Concepcion featherweight title fight. “He has served his punishment in California and is not looking to fight in California, so why apply there for a license?
“The Margarito side doesn’t believe the California commission was objective [when the license was revoked] and that they could not get an objective hearing from California now. They were hoping that Nevada would be more objective and see that a commission that Margarito is currently in litigation with would be compromised.”
“Before the fight, my trainer Javier Capetillo, my former trainer, put a knuckle pad made of gauze on my hand,” Margarito said through a translator. “I learned later the knuckle pad had something irregular on the inside but I didn’t know that truthfully in the moment. The knuckle pad didn’t seem different to ones he had put on my hands before.
“I never felt anything hard or irregular. Everything I felt was that it was a knuckle pad that was normal. In that moment, I was focused on one thing and that was preparing myself to go out to the fight with Mosley.”
“I thought about it and talked to my family and decided not to fight,” Margarito said.
“I accept responsibility because they are my hands and that is why I have taken steps to make sure this never happens again.”
“We could take the commission’s instructions and proceed to California,” Said Marroso. “This is not something we expected so it’s not something we had thought through. We’ll let Antonio digest this. We’re going to digest it and huddle and come up with a game plan. It won’t be long until the game plan is set and we act on it.”
Margarito, 32, could go to California, he could fight again outside the United States or he could apply in another state.
“I think everybody was disappointed,” Said Todd duBoef of Top Rank, which promotes Maragito. “I think he’s being victimized by red tape and a process prohibiting him from making a living. I sat next to his wife and you know she wonders where the next paycheck is coming from and that’s very difficult.”
Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank
