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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Boxer Loses Fight Over|License Revocation

(CN) - Boxer Antonio Margarito unsuccessfully appealed the California State Athletic Commission's decision to suspend his boxing license after inspectors found a "white plaster-like substance" on his knuckle pads.

An appeals court in Los Angeles upheld the revocation of Margarito's license to fight in California.

Margarito defended his WBA welterweight title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley in January 2009. Before the fight, Mosley's trainer asked for an inspection of Margarito's hand wraps. They were hard to the touch and looked like plaster, according to commission inspector Che Guevara.

Margarito's hands were re-wrapped, and the fight went on as scheduled, with Mosley winning. After the fight, Margarito's license was suspended and later revoked.

Margarito appealed, blaming the hand-wrap fiasco on his trainer, Javier Capetillo, a 38-year veteran who was the only trainer to wrap Margarito's hands before a fight for the previous 11 years.

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the commission did not violate Margarito's due-process rights by withholding key evidence, including photographs and forensic test results of the knuckle pads.

The boxer also argued, unsuccessfully, that the commission had improperly changed its theory of liability during the course of the administrative hearing.

The controversy has not derailed Margarito's career, however.

He will fight Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 13 for the vacant WBC super welterweight title.

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