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Yesterday Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar de la Hoya sat down at a press conference to answer questions about the state of the game as it’s been unfolding these last weeks. There was a lot to choose from on the menu, the least of which was Antonio Margarito’s recently denied appeal for a California-sanctioned boxing license. The banned boxer went ahead and met with the California Athletic Commission Wednesday, after earlier meetings with the Nevada State Commission suggested he take his case to California.

In February of last year Margarito’s license was revoked after plaster was found in his hand wraps before a bout with “Sugar” Shane Mosley. The incident generated an industry-wide controversy that remains divisive today.

Turning his attention over to Margarito, who applied to the Texas State Athletic Commission Friday in hopes of being licensed for a Nov. 13th bout with Manny Pacquiao, de la Hoya said: “I’ve been very vocal on the whole Margarito situation. My feelings have not changed. Boxing is a sport I love and participated in inside the ring for many years.

“This is a dangerous sport and if you put anything on your fists or in your gloves, you should be banned for life. That is my sense. That is my position. [Margarito] says, ‘I learned from my mistakes.’ What if you would have killed somebody? You should fight again because you learned from your mistakes? You don’t mess with somebody’s life inside that ring.”

It’s hard to expel de la Hoya’s conviction or his valuable boxing experience. But it’s just as hard to justify his position given the complications of the incident he unusually chooses to avoid. De la Hoya talks as if Margarito’s participation was never in question, when, for many involved, it’s the central question of the case, and remains unanswered.

Margarito has pleaded from the beginning that he was unaware of anything being in his wraps, and placed the blame entirely on his now-ex trainer John Capetillo (whom he fired immediately).

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By Kevin High, Bettor.com – SJ Blog Partners/Contributing Authors

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