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“Just minutes ago, the commissioner of boxing, Dean Lohuis, reported to us that an illegal pad was found in Margarito’s gloves. Something that would harden when wet. And his hands had to be rewrapped three times.”
Larry Merchant and the HBO crew had become aware of an issue that would continue to play out through the evening and over the days and months to come. While Antonio Margarito, preparing to defend his title against Sugar Shane Mosley, was having his hands wrapped in his dressing room, an illegal substance was detected causing alarm bells to sound.
Boxing historians lamented over one of the more infamous similarities as on July 4, 1919, Jack Dempsey was accused of having used a similar substance when he stopped Jess Willard in Toledo, Ohio. The questions and controversy live on to this day as many still ponder, did the Dempsey team use an illegal substance in his demolition of Willard?
Controversy aside, the Staples Center was raucous with a capacity crowd of over 21,000 fans. Saturday night, January 24, 2009 saw the largest crowd ever to attend any event at the Staples Center. There was a recognizable face in every direction. As Mark Wahlberg, Joe Pesci, and Sugar Ray Leonard were visiting with spectators, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger took their seats together near ringside.
Few, in any, knew of the dramatics unfolding behind the scenes.
Just four days after the inauguration of the United States’ 44th President, Margarito would defend his WBA Welterweight crown against Sugar Shane Mosley in Los Angeles.
There was a true sense of euphoria surrounding the 30-year-old Margarito leading up to the bout. Public opinion was that Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs) was a freight train, one that could not be knocked off its tracks let alone be beaten. He had a jaw of cast iron and got stronger as the rounds passed.
He had established himself as an elite fighter and was in the midst of a three-fight winning streak. After brutally demolishing Golden Johnson and Kermit Cintron, he then battered and bloodied Miguel Cotto just six months before via an 11th round TKO.
Riding a wave of popularity, Lampley summarized Margarito’s status, “Widely recognized as the best Welterweight in the world.”
His opponent was a future hall of famer, one many conceded was on the down side of his brilliant career. At 37, Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs) had resurrected himself with a pair of victories over Fernando Vargas and a win against tough veteran Luis Collazo.
After suffering back to back losses to Vernon Forrest in 2002 and later to Winky Wright in 2004, many had written Mosley off. As he prepared for Margarito, he was facing an assortment of outside distractions and a mountain of adversity.
Mosley continued to grapple with the fallout from a scandal involving use of performance enhancing drugs. In addition to that, he had recently parted ways with his trainer and father, Jack Mosley. While training in Big Bear, California, Mosley was also forced to contend with finalizing a divorce from his wife and manager, Jin Mosley.
Odds makers added up those disruptions and then multiplied them against the Margarito express train. Their final calculation was to install Mosley as a 4-1 underdog.
As the challenger, Mosley entered the arena first. Led by new trainer Naazim Richardson, who initially raised concerns in Margarito’s dressing room just minutes before the walk out, he was donned in all black including black gloves, robe, trunks and shoes.
The champion entered next. Escorted by his trainer, Javier Capetillo, Margarito also sported black gloves. Wearing red trunks and red shoes, the 5’11” Margarito held a two-inch height advantage over his shorter challenger.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced the fighters in front of an overwhelming pro-Margarito crowd. Both men stood ready as referee Raul Caiz Sr. signaled for the opening bell.
Mosley immediately went on the attack as we promptly got a sense of how he would attempt to handle Margarito. He juked in and out quickly while snapping his left jab and firing to the body. Mosley seemed determined to stay off the ropes and keep the action in the center of the ring.
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As the early rounds unfolded, Mosley’s offense was based on moving in and out while slowly moving backwards at a measured pace. Margarito continued to press forward, but was forced into more of a defensive posture against Mosley’s hand and foot speed.
Early on, Margarito’s fans, and corner, didn’t seem worried. Margarito, a notoriously slow starter, was bound to pick up steam and momentum as he had done so often in the past. He continued to advance as Merchant pointed out, “To take a backward step is treason.”
While Mosley built an early lead out boxing and out working the champion, Margarito kept coming. He tried to muscle Mosley into the ropes where he could bully him. Mosley repeatedly beat him to the punch and escaped while landing his own blows.
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After four rounds, HBO’s unofficial scorer Harold Lederman had the champion down four rounds to zero, 40-36. Mosley was hitting and not getting hit.
In between rounds, Richardson advised Mosley, “Your combinations Shane, nobody in the division’s hands are as fast as yours. Run them combinations and knock the grease off this dude. And then swim without getting wet.”
Mosley responded to Richardson in the fifth round, bloodying Margarito’s mouth with a left hook while continuing his assault to the body. For the first time in the fight, the champion began to show signs of retreat.
While Margarito’s firepower appeared to be all but lost, Mosley put his front and center as he began to push the champion backward. The challenger was slowly becoming the aggressor and was now moving forward. Lampley recognized the subtle shift, “He’s getting beaten to the punch in every exchange. And the whitewash seems to be continuing in Staples Center!”
Firmly in command of the fight, Mosley sensed that Margarito didn’t have much left in the tank. The crowd tried to rally the champion, seemingly trying to will him back into the fight. Instead, the challenger pressed on the gas pedal and landed a vicious combination late in the eighth round.
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With the crowd on its feet, Lampley hollered over the deafening roar, “Margarito was stunned by the right hand. Mosley has Margarito in trouble on the ropes! Good left hook by Mosley. And there’s the knockdown! And Margarito looks like a beaten man!”
Although it was clear that Margarito was done, the warrior came out for Round 9. The champion was hurt but refused to give in. Mosley tested him right away and backed him into a corner with a relentless barrage.
While the brutal mugging continued, a white towel was hurled into the ring from the Margarito corner. As the towel flew, Mosley landed a left hook that sent Margarito reeling. Caiz rushed to pull Mosley away as the champion crashed to the deck in heap.
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The bout was stopped just 43 seconds into Round 9. Mosley, the new Welterweight champion of the world, was well ahead on all three of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
As Mosley bowed to the fans, many whom he won over with his incredible performance, Lampley summed up the fight, “And Shane Mosley has annihilated Antonio Margarito!”
In the aftermath of his loss, the controversy that broke before the fight continued. Judd Burstein, Mosley’s attorney, described Margarito as having wet pads in the wrapping of his hands. Robert Olvera, Mosley’s physician, would later compare that substance to the type of plaster used in making casts.
Just four days later, on January 28, the California State Athletic Commission temporarily suspended the licenses of both Margarito and Capetillo while an investigation ensued.
Burstein would explain that he had taken the pad removed from the wrapping as well and an additional pad that was found inside the Margarito dressing room. Both pads were placed into a sealed bin and were then provided to the California Department of Justice.
A lab later confirmed that the substance was similar in nature to plaster of Paris, a material that would harden as time elapsed.
Margarito would argue that he did not know what was being placed in his wraps. Capetillo then stepped forward and admitted to making “a big mistake” maintaining that he simply placed the wrong inserts into his fighters hand wraps.
The California State Athletic Commission wasn’t buying it and voted unanimously to revoke both Margarito and Capetillo’s licenses for a minimum of one year.
Things got worse for Margarito when, in November of 2009, details emerged that red stains on the hand wraps used in his fight with Cotto were similar to the stains in his fight with Mosley.
This sparked more uncertainty as additional suspicions were aimed at Margarito and what he may, or may not, have been hiding in his hand wraps in previous fights. The allegations also begged the question that if indeed there was foul play, how did it go undetected for so long?
Cotto would later get revenge in a rematch while a black cloud would hover over Margarito for the remainder of his career.
It is important to note that despite the dramatics leading up to the fight with Margarito, Mosley was magnificent in the execution of his game plan. His performance that night is one that ranks with his first victory over Oscar De La Hoya in June of 2000.
