Pacquiao and Arum not on the same page about the Margarito hand wrap scandal

Usually Manny Pacquiao isn't a fighter who tends to be outspoken on many issues in boxing, preferring instead to concentrate on fighting and often letting promoter Bob Arum do much of his talking for him in public.

Since the beginning of the loaded hand wrap scandal involving Antonio Margarito, Bob Arum has continually championed his fighter's cause, of late often talking about the lack of evidence that Margarito knew anything about the wraps.

In some ways he has a point, Margarito's former trainer Javier Capetillo took responsibility for the incident, and since nothing implicating Margarito directly could be proved by the California athletic commission at the time, nothing was.

Speaking to gathered press members at the Beverley Hills press conference earlier today, Arum said:

"It's bullsh**! There wasn't one shred of evidence [that Margarito was aware of the illegal wraps] and at the hearing, members of the California State Athletic Commission that have since been fired, gave affidavits that observed him getting his hands wrapped; they were willing to testify that Margarito didn't know,"

In this case that doesn't really mean anything either way. Those now fired commission members Arum mentions being the same guys who didn't notice the illegal wraps being used in the first place. Outside of Margarito wrapping up his own hands or being caught watching his trainer put in the tampered knuckle pads, what evidence could there even have been?

However, like much of the boxing community, Manny Pacquiao apparently doesn't buy November opponent Margarito's side of the story about the tampered hand wraps that eventually lead to his one year ban. Speaking to veteran sports journalist Ronnie Nathanielsz and several other news outlets prior to arriving in Los Angeles, Pacquiao said:

“I don’t believe him (Margarito),”

“Of course he knows about that (illegal hand-wraps). Its his hands and he watches the taping.”

Obviously by agreeing to fight him Pacquiao is keen to give Margarito another chance, and having served his suspension fair and square as ordered when offers were on the table in his native Mexico, this is an understandable stance to take.

Sooner or later, it was crucial for Pacquaio to address the issue so that the press tour and build up to the fight could focus on other issues, and his honesty over the matter is commendable.

If he believes Margarito was complicit in the use of tampered hand wraps though, then Margarito's continued insistence of his innocence is surely from Pacquiao's perspective nothing more than lying to the fans, media and even Pacquiao himself.

Which once more raises the question of whether Pacquiao has any moral obligations with regards to who he chooses to fight, or whether his job is to fight and let his promoter and advisers worry about matters outside the ring.

For such a popular and famous fighter he has a very hands off approach to his own promotion, but in this case if he believes Margarito to be lying to him and the public even now, should he have taken a more hard line with the Tijuana Tornado before agreeing to fight him?

Jim Cruz, Greensburg: "Why should Pac care about who he fights, the commission already punished Margo, it isn't Pac's problem"

Sean Davies, Pittsburgh: "Pacquiao thinks he's lying but he doesn't care anyway. I doubt he would stand up to Arum anyway"


Source: http://www.examiner.com