According to the Los Angeles hispanic newspaper La Opinion, former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito is not as concerned as he should be by the California State Athletic Comission revoking his license for a year. He knows that he is able to step into a squared circle again either in June or July in Mexico. Margarito did state that despite the judgement, the state has not proven any wrongdoing by him.
The “Tijuana Tornado” stated that the media has branded him as a cheater without any proof that what was found in his hand wrappings was illegal.
“I think its that the suspension is an insjustice. I was at the comission because of the hand wraps but in reality the comission doesn’t even know what is in them because they haven’t gotten
back the results.” Margarito continues “Capetillo stated that he was responsible but not because he accepted that the wraps had something but because he noticed that the wraps were already used.”
“As far as Cotto not wanting the rematch because of this, he can do what he wants. If he wants to fight in the U.S. then it would have to wait but if he really wanted a rematch, he would accept to fight in Mexico,” Margarito assured. “But the truth is, all of this is not going to stop me.”
“I want the fans to know that I have never used illegal hand wraps. There is always inspectors checking the wrapping of the hands. I cannot use an illegal subtance because they are there,” Margarito assured. “I hope the fans do not stop supporting me, I have never had a problem before until now.”
As far as his tarnished trainer Javier Capetillo, Margarito said “I believe in Capetillo. I spoke with him and he apologized to me for the mistake that he made but he swore to me that they didn’t have anything on them.”
“There was a lot of pressure in the dressing room. Some of the inspectors that testified in the hearing lied because they stated that the only other person besides my team was Mosley’s trainer when in reality there was four people from his team plus two more state inspectors.”
Margarito was given the opportunity during the hearing to inspect the hand wraps in question.
“They showed me one of the two and I stated that it seemed normal to me, I didn’t think it was hard but I did notice that it was used,” Margarito afirmed.
Always the gentleman, Margarito refused to blame the commotion in his dressing room prior to his bout with Shane Mosley as a reason for his first loss via KO in his career “I didn’t have enough time to warm up but there is no excuse, Mosley had a great night.”
After several weeks since the bout and with time to analyze the film, Margarito feels he has come to a coherent reason why he came up short that night.
“I was too skinny. I have seen photos of my weigh in with Cotto and the one with Mosley and I was too skinny. I struggled a lot to make the weight and that hurt me because I didn’t feel I had my power. I watch the fight and I am not the same.”
But Margarito has a solution “I am going to hire a nutrionist and I will see if I can make the welterweight limit again without problems.” He continues “but if I cant, then I will move up to super welterweight so that this doesn’t happen again.”
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