Former world champion in two weight categories Antonio Margarito, who was suspended from 2009 to 2011 for a plaster-like substance in gloves that he wore before the fight with Shane Mosley, is also suspected of cheating during other fights. Well, as they “suspect” – everything is in the format “he beat me – and this is strange.”
Recall that in early 2009, when coach Javier Capetillo bandaged Margarito’s hands before entering the ring to Mosley, Shane’s sharp-sighted coach Nazim Richardson noticed something was wrong. Despite the scandal, the fight was held (with Antonio wearing other teips and gloves) – the Mexican cheater was killed in the 9th round.
While Margarito was serving a suspension, a video review of his previous fight against Miguel Cotto raised concerns about similar manipulations back then. Cotto pedaled this topic in every possible way, as he could not accept that he was beaten by such a “woodcutter”, and in rematch outboxed the offender.
Now,
writes World Boxing News, many years later, Kermit Cintron also spoke out against the Mexican. The former world champion, who played until 2018, fought Margarito twice – and both fights (in 2005 and 2008) ended in early defeats of the Puerto Rican in the middle rounds.
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Kermit wonders if there was something unclean in the first fight, because he felt abnormally badly beaten – like never before in his career before and after Antonio.
“Everyone is talking about the case with Panama Lewis and Luis Resto – about what they did in the fight with Billy Collins. But here I am two days after the fight with Margarito, both of my eyes are still covered with hematomas. No one else in my 50 fight career could have done the same. So what was it?” Sintron says.
(Recall that Lewis and Resto were accused of removing the padding from the gloves. Later, Resto also admitted that he soaked the bandages in plaster, which also contributed to the terrible beating of Collins. Both attackers served time for this crime.)
Moreover, three years later, the revenge was about the same, the veteran noted.
“The second one was similar. After the fight, a reporter came into my locker room. I said I felt my knuckles [Маргарито]that something was wrong. I’ve fought stronger punchers, but I’ve never felt anything like it. Margarito was less powerful, stronger and more punchy,” Kermit shakes his head.
According to promoter Lou Dibell, Sintron’s thoughts are probably not unfounded: “Scammers cheat, and more than once.”
Meanwhile, we recall: there is no evidence (“guesses” of Sintron is not enough) that Margarito did dirty tricks in other fights, except for the one in which he was caught hot.