Pacquiao says Margarito knew about hand wraps
In an interview with boxingscene.com Monday night, Manny Pacquiao has finally spoken up about the Antonio Margarito hand wrap controversy. The seven-time world champion caught up with the popular website just before arriving in Los Angeles and prepping for a Beverly Hills press conference Tuesday morning.
Pacquiao also spoke of the upcoming 13 November bout, saying that Margarito, his opponent, is a “very aggressive fighter” and that the Mexican’s height and reach advantage will make it “difficult” for Pacquiao to succeed. However, according to Pacman, there is only one way the fight will end.
“It’s going to be a good fight because Margarito likes to come forward all the time and throw punches and that’s what we like—plenty of action. For sure there’s going to be a lot of action in the ring and it won’t be like the Joshua Clottey fight.”
Pacquiao took on Clottey in Texas in March and won in convincing fashion. The bout attracted some 50,000 fans.
Pacquiao was quick to point out the similarities between his upcoming bout with 5ft 11in Margarito and a previous one with 5ft 10in Oscar de la Hoya. De la Hoya, now the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, quit after the eighth round of the bout after taking a vicious beating for most of it.
The most revealing aspect of Pacquiao’s interview was his view on Margarito’s hand wrap controversy, a situation which left him banned from boxing for a year. Pacquiao claimed that he doesn’t believe Margarito when he says he wasn’t aware of the illegal wraps, which were discovered moments before a January 2009 fight with “Sugar” Shane Mosley.
“I don’t believe him (Margarito),” Pacman expressed vehemently. “Of course he knows about that (illegal hand-wraps). It’s his hands and he watches the taping.”
Pacquiao also stated that he thinks Margarito denied knowledge of the wraps because he was “looking for a way out” and didn’t want to injure his reputation among fans. Well, that didn’t work out so well. Margarito is still the biggest villain in boxing today.
In any event, while disagreeing with Margarito about the incident, Pacquiao agreed with promoter Bob Arum that the banned fighter “paid his dues by sacrificing and not fighting for one year.”
However, as Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports points out, Margarito has been fighting twice a year since 2008, and in 2009 only fought once (due to the Mosley controversy). But because he has already fought once again in May 2010 (Roberto Garcia) and will take on Pacquiao in November, he actually only lost one fight due to the incident.
Pacquiao was firm in saying: “I hope he learned his lesson and will not repeat the same mistake.”
Contractually Pacquiao is allowed to have two representatives led by coach Freddie Roach watch the taping of Margarito’s hands. The fight will be the second for Margarito in which he is not taped, nor managed, by banished trainer Javier Capetillo.
One consequence of the bout has been that fans are all too eager to place Pacquiao in the white knight role and see him give the dark night, Margarito, a severe punishment in the name of justice. When put this question and asked if the stakes were indeed that high, Pacquiao said: “No, I can’t do that [give him a moral beating]. He is good fighter. He’s big and skilled and also has power. We will do what we are capable of so that we will win for our country.”
Next stop of the promotional tour for the fight is New York City, followed by Dallas. Those interested can be sure the conflict has only just started. With the soft-spoken Filipino typically avoiding trash-talk before fights, saying he thinks Margarito knew he was cheating is sure to drum up some attention for the fight.
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