Margarito’s license revoked by California state Athletic commission

The California State Athletic Commission has revoked the license of welterweight Antonio Margarito, along with his trainer Javier Capetillo, for at least one year due to the irregularities in the boxer’s hand wrapping prior to his January 24th fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosely at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 

Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson, had objected to the wrapping on Margarito’s left hand prior to the fighters entering the ring.  When the offending wraps were removed, a pad treated with what has been described as “a plaster like substance” was found.  Margarito had his hands re-wrapped and went on to lose the fight via 9th round KO. 

The Commission voted unanimously on both motions for revocation, though considerable effort was made attempting to suggest that Margarito was an “innocent bystander” and knew nothing of the illegal hand wrappings.  For his part, Capetillo suggested that he made a mistake by “reaching into the wrong bag” and underscored his fighter’s innocence:

"I committed a big mistake. I don't want this young man [Margarito] to have problems. I'm here to cover any responsibility. I take full responsibility. I committed this innocent mistake."

Obviously neither defense tactic was successful, and Carrie Lopez, the Director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs (which oversees the Athletic Commission) issued the following statement:

"The conduct of both Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo was unacceptable and threatened the health and safety of another licensee. Today's action shows that both the Department of Consumer Affairs and the California State Athletic Commission take the issue of boxer safety very seriously, and will move quickly when a licensee's actions threaten the safety of others."

Needless to say, Margarito’s promoter Bob Arum was not happy with the ruling and vowed to fight it:

"It's the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced. It's not going to hold up. The commission determined that Antonio knew nothing and did nothing wrong, but that he is head of his team, so he's responsible for the trainer and, therefore, it is appropriate to revoke his license.

"How can you revoke somebody's license when they didn't do anything or wrong or attempt to do anything wrong? Capetillo admitted that he made an inadvertent mistake and said Tony knew nothing about it. Margarito is a nice guy and deserves better than this."

While this may put the kibosh on a proposed June rematch with Miguel Cotto, Arum suggested that Margarito could fight in Mexico while he attempts to get the verdict reversed:

We'll figure out a fight for him in Mexico. It will be on one of our pay-per-view shows this summer. I think we'd have the opportunity to do 200,000 or 300,000 buys."

Shane Mosley agreed with the trainer’s punishment, though shared the view that Margarito’s was overly harsh:

"I just think that Capetillo was the one wrapping his hands and knew what was going on. He should be penalized. Margarito probably should not be as penalized. Capetillo was the one who did it. Margarito is the fighter and he just probably put his hands out there to be wrapped and ready to fight. Capetillo went to the rules meeting. He's the one who knew how to wrap the hands. He took it upon himself to make the wrap different. It should be mainly Capetillo who gets the brunt of everything."

Arum was in Mexico on business at the time of the hearing and did not attend.  He said that further statements would be forthcoming once the next course of action has been decided.