Round by Round: Weekly Boxing Notes

How Serious is the Cotto/Arum Rift?
↵The battle lines have been clear since Antonio Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, had their licenses revoked for a year by the California State Athletic Commission for attempting to load Margarito’s wraps prior to his January 24th fight with Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. ↵↵Margarito’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, immediately expressed outrage at the ruling, taking the position that while the trainer deserved the suspension, Margarito himself was utterly unaware of what was being placed in his handwraps and therefore should not be punished at all. Arum has said that he would explore the possibility of having Margarito fight in Mexico, where the suspension by the CSAC likely would not be honored. ↵

↵↵Miguel Cotto, also promoted by Arum at Top Rank, and a victim of Margarito’s savagery in a fight last July, expressed a much different opinion on the matter. “He was suspended for one year, he should be suspended everywhere,” Cotto said of Margarito. “He has to abide by the rules and I think if he can’t fight in the United States, he shouldn’t be able to fight at all.”↵

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↵↵For his part, Arum has shrugged off Cotto’s assertions with the blanket statement that everyone is entitled to his opinion but as Margarito’s promoter he has a duty to act in his fighter’s interest. In this unique situation, however, he also happens to be the promoter of another fighter, Cotto, whom many believe was wronged by Margarito in their fight last year. ↵

↵↵This is the main question being asked by fight fans about the Margarito/Cotto bout: Why would Margarito or his trainer decide to start loading the fighter’s wraps only after giving Cotto such a colossal beating in Las Vegas last July? If his wraps were clean against Cotto, one would presume that they would feel very confident as to the state of Margarito’s power and not feel the need to start cheating for the Mosley fight. Along that line of inquiry, why was it that Margarito seemed so devoid of power when he fought Mosley where his shots looked positively lethal against Cotto? ↵

↵↵Based on the visual and circumstantial evidence, the conclusion being drawn by the court of public opinion is highly damning to Margarito right now. Cotto isn’t dwelling on the past, though, focusing instead on his comeback fight tomorrow night with British champion Michael Jennings. “I prefer to think that he had a great night in July,” Cotto said about the Margarito controversy. He left it at that, adding that only Margarito and his handlers know the truth. ↵

↵↵But while Cotto seems willing to forget the past, he may not be so willing to forgive what he deems to be his promoter’s disloyalty. There are varying reports as to how serious the rift between Cotto and Arum actually is right now. But in a recent interview in Puerto Rico, Cotto told a reporter for the Mexican newspaper, Primera Hora, that he is angry with Arum’s position in the matter and is definitely considering leaving Top Rank when his contract runs out at the end of this year. ↵

↵↵Subsequently, however, Cotto downplayed the Arum situation in a pre-fight press conference on Thursday, saying that it wasn’t personal, “just a disagreement.” ↵

↵↵Knowing that Cotto is unhappy, one wonders how far Arum will continue to push his defense of Margarito in this situation. Because whatever Arum would like the world to believe, Margarito is now a tainted fighter forever and all time. He was caught cheating once, and many are of the strong opinion that it wasn’t the first time he cheated, only the first time he got caught. And while no one can prove that he cheated in his fights prior to Mosley, no one can prove that he didn’t, either. It’s doubtful that his career ever will be the same. ↵

↵↵Meanwhile, Cotto remains a boxing star, a great and exciting fighter with only one loss on his record, and that loss now has an invisible asterisk appended to it in the minds of the fans. After Cotto beats the bejabbers out of Michael Jennings tomorrow, he will once again have a share of the welterweight title and be in line for some gigantic fights in the summer and fall of ‘09 -- a rematch with Shane Mosley, a unification bout with Andre Berto, and possibly even mega-bouts with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. ↵

↵↵In other words, in this particular dispute between Top Rank stable-mates, it would seem that Bob Arum is going out of his way to back the wrong pony. ↵

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