“Golden Boy” remains golden in Margarito assessment
Yesterday Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar de la Hoya sat down at a press conference to answer questions about the state of the game as it’s been unfolding these last weeks. There was a lot to choose from on the menu, the least of which was Antonio Margarito’s recently denied appeal for a California-sanctioned boxing license. The banned boxer went ahead and met with the California Athletic Commission Wednesday, after earlier meetings with the Nevada State Commission suggested he take his case to California.
In February of last year Margarito’s license was revoked after plaster was found in his hand wraps before a bout with “Sugar” Shane Mosley. The incident generated an industry-wide controversy that remains divisive today.
Turning his attention over to Margarito, who applied to the Texas State Athletic Commission Friday in hopes of being licensed for a Nov. 13th bout with Manny Pacquiao, de la Hoya said: “I've been very vocal on the whole Margarito situation. My feelings have not changed. Boxing is a sport I love and participated in inside the ring for many years.
"This is a dangerous sport and if you put anything on your fists or in your gloves, you should be banned for life. That is my sense. That is my position. [Margarito] says, 'I learned from my mistakes.' What if you would have killed somebody? You should fight again because you learned from your mistakes? You don't mess with somebody's life inside that ring."
It’s hard to expel de la Hoya’s conviction or his valuable boxing experience. But it’s just as hard to justify his position given the complications of the incident he unusually chooses to avoid. De la Hoya talks as if Margarito’s participation was never in question, when, for many involved, it’s the central question of the case, and remains unanswered.
Margarito has pleaded from the beginning that he was unaware of anything being in his wraps, and placed the blame entirely on his now-ex trainer John Capetillo (whom he fired immediately).
Many top-notch boxing advisers and trainers interviewed about the situation have come to Margarito's defence, saying that it would be possible for a trainer to slip plaster into hand wraps without a fighter knowing. Trainers as diverse as Freddie Roach and Manuel Stewart voiced this opinion.
The fact is it is unknown if Margarito knew about the plaster, and it probably will never be proven either way. Therefore, de la Hoya’s opinion seems a bit hasty. At the same time, it has to be treated with all of the entitlements deserved him: he’s a former boxer, he should know, shouldn’t he?
Then again, lest we forget that the controversy occurred against a Golden Boy fighter, Shane Mosley, so de la Hoya is always going to side on the Golden Boy fence. Which is just to say he’s as partial as the next guy in the playground. Naturally he’s upset: if anything could have happened to Mosley, he would have lost one of his highest grossing assets (Mosley brought in over $10 million for his Mayweather bout), not to mention a close friend with whom he’s shared blows in the ring.
Is de la Hoya sitting on a moral high horse with this one? Has de la Hoya, as a fighter and now as a promoter, always taken the high ground? The answer to these questions seems to be affirmative; that’s been part of his image since day one, hence the nickname “Golden Boy.”
Oscar’s thoughts on the Margarito case are the perfect example of a “golden” assessment of the case. They’re morally flawless, but that doesn’t make them logically coherent.
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