With the recent finding against Antonio Margarito for using an illegal substance on his hand wraps which was discovered prior to his fight against Shane Mosley. Arises the question of when and if he had used a hardener on his wraps before.
Many point to the fight against Miguel Cotto and the punishment and almost brutal beating Cotto took until finally giving up in the 11th round. And I for one would agree that in looking back it seems obvious that Margarito's wraps were most likely hardened during this fight. Because even in a sport where the goal is to beat the crap out of your opponent it's not often that you see someone as pummeled as Cotto after that fight.
And of course this leads to question what other fights were Margarito's hands wrapped with a hardening substance. And my thought is that it seem obvious to me that they were during his fight against Joshua Clottey. And here's where if you remember the fight you might say but wait, that fight went to the scorecards and Clottey wasn't pummeled and actually never seemed that hurt. But here is also where if you are a true boxing fan ( by this I mean if a fights on this weekend your watching or like me you pay for Showtime and HBO but rarely watch the movies) and pay attention then you have to think about the way Clottey fights ( defensive ) and about what did happen during that fight.
First let's examine Joshua Clottey and I'll start by saying I am a fan. While he's not the most exciting fighter out there I have been impressed with all of his fights. And he seems to step up to every challenge. I think one of his most notable fights was his total dismantling of the then never give up Diego Corrales may he rest in peace. But in that fight like Clottey's fight with Margarito, Clottey showed his defensive skills now in saying defensive skills we're not talking old Roy Jones Jr, or Floyd Mayweather Jr, skills the way they move away from getting hit.
Clottey stands in front of his opponent with his hands up in the block position lets his opponent get off and counters with quick combinations after his opponent stops. One of his biggest combinations is the double left hook upstairs and then down. And it is this style and the way his fight against Margarito played out that proves to me at least that Margarito had illegal wraps. See Clottey was actually winning this fight up to around the 5th round when he complained that his hand was injured and I think the decision could have went either way as Clottey still made a valiant effort. But it was obvious that even though he kept throwing with the injured hand it wasn't as often or with the same bad intentions as in the early rounds.
Margarito went on to win the fight by decision but Clottey was not hurt or damaged in any form as some of Margarito's other opponents. But I point to the fact that Margarito was still throwing lots of punches but Clottey was taking most of the punches on the gloves and arms. And considering that when Margarito blocked punches if his wraps were hard Clottey was hitting the hardened wraps with full force. Which is why I think Clottey was not beat up in the face but suffered damage to his hands. It just makes since to me if Clottey didn't fight the style he does he would have probably been pummeled or TKO'd in this fight.
In the end I guess only Margarito and his camp know the truth, but to those of us who watched now a lot of his fights bring up questions. Like how does he destroy Carlos Quintana twice and then get beat handily by Paul Williams who later gets destroyed by the for named Quintana? Or Destroy Cotto and then when we know his wraps were caught get destroyed by Shane Mosley who lost to Cotto? We may never know the answers but things seem to make a little more sense!
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