Antonio Margarito Not Reinstated by California State Athletic Commission
The California State Athletic Commission denied Antonio Margarito’s request to be licensed to box in the state earlier this afternoon, voting by a lopsided tally of 5-1 against the appeal. This throws a fork in the plans of Top Rank to pit a tarnished, wholly undeserving fighter in with the best pound for pound boxer in the sport, Manny Pacquiao. Margarito is still going to attempt to be licensed by the Texas commission, since the proposed bout against Pacquiao is likely to be headed to Dallas Cowboys Stadium. However, the CSAC voting against Margarito, and in wide fashion, may dissuade other state commissions from allowing Margarito to fight.
Ultimately, the move by the CSAC is sound and justified. Citing the fact that they feel Margarito has not been rehabilitated – he still denies ever knowing about the illegal handwraps – they denied his request to be licensed to fight professionally in the state. It would have been easy for the commission to say, alright, you’ve served your year and then some, you can go ahead and continue to fight in our jurisdiction. However, they took a stand, and continued to punish Margarito for what is one of the few truly horrific acts in a sport where inflicting punishment is highly desirable. (Read about the hand wrapping incident and controversy).
Now it’s on the rest of the states to follow the precedent and continue to deny Margarito his application as well. This may be substantially more tricky, as it will be hard for a commission to essentially turn down the tens of millions of dollars of revenue that the fight will bring into the local economy by refusing Margarito a boxing license. It’s likely that somewhere, 1 of 50 states would give him and Top Rank the OK. Therefore, the next state to make its move may just preemptively allow it to happen, bringing in the money for themselves since inevitably somebody else will.
This is also where a national boxing commission of sorts would come in handy. This would prevent fighters from navigating around from state to state trying to get licensed in one locale while being forbidden in others. In the meantime, kudos to the CSAC for denying Margarito. The ball is in your court now Texas, as Pacquiao vs. Margarito still looms ahead in a few months, with a preferred landing spot of Dallas… what’s your move?
