Posts Tagged ‘hand wraps’

Antonio Margarito: Does Redemption or Execution Await Him?

Posted: November 10, 2010 in Fight Interviews
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When Antonio Margarito walks the aisle this Saturday (November 13) to meet Manny Pacquiao, he’ll be doing so knowing that a significant number of the boxing community feel he’s gotten away with a despicable crime.

After serving a one year suspension for attempting to use illegal hand wraps against Shane Mosley, Margarito has had one fight against a non-descript opponent in May. Now, he’s getting an opportunity to defeat arguably the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world in Manny Pacquiao. It’s not just an excellent payday (Margarito can make over $6 million with good pay-per-view numbers), but a shot at redemption. Should he defeat Pacquiao with clean wraps and no other controversy, it could silence whisperings about the validity of his entire career.

But should he lose, and lose big, it would confirm for many that he was a sham, a pugilist that needed to cheat to level the playing field against elite fighters. It would not only continue to cast doubt on his signature win over Miguel Cotto, but whether any of his wins were without the use of additional firepower in the wraps.

Does triumph await Margarito, or will satisfaction be with those seeking to complete the burial of his career?

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: Now that camp is over, are there any last-minute tweaks you and Robert Garcia have been making to the game plan?

Antonio Margarito: We were just refining things and correcting little mistakes I was still making. We’re at the end of the camp, so it was less sparring, and more one on one in the ring and working on detail work.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: What fights of Manny Pacquiao did you watch the most to help you prepare?

Margarito: I saw many fights. I went back to even early in his career when he was dropped by a jab to the body. I just watched those because they were included in the film collection. But I really focused on all the later fights since moving to welterweight.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: You tried your hand at a little boxing with your last fight in Mexico against Roberto Garcia. Will we see more of that with Pacquiao, or just straight pressure?

Margarito: It all depends of what type of fight Manny presents. Everyone knows how I fight; I go forward and throw a lot of punches. This time, I will be more of a defensive fighter and try to avoid punches. With my last boxing match in Mexico, my trainer asked me not to finish him up early. They wanted the rounds to prepare me for later fights. I was off for such a long time that I needed the rounds.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: You’ve only had one fight in a year and a half. Where would you rate your endurance compared to when you were champion in 2008?

Margarito: I feel better than ever. This camp has been great, and stamina is just as good as when I was champion. I’m a clean fighter, all I do is fight. I don’t have any bad habits like drinking or smoking.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: This fight is at 150 pound catchweight. You’ve been at the full junior middleweight limit before. Will you stay this time or move back down to welter?

Margarito: No no, my plan is to stay as a super welterweight.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: How was your experience with the HBO 24/7 team? Were there any problems or hindrances to your camp?

Margarito: You know what, I was impressed with the 24/7 crew. They worked with me very well when I asked not to film, they wouldn’t film. They didn’t hamper my camp. They’ve been showing everything that’s really happening. I’ve seen some of the episodes, and they’re exactly what I’m experiencing.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: Javier Capetillo was your long-time trainer before the hand wrap scandal. How does his style compare to Robert Garcia?

Margarito: Two completely different styles. Robert Garcia is a former world champion, so he grew up in the gym. Capetillo was more of a military style trainer. He could never tell when you’re tired, as opposed to Robert being able to as a former fighter.

I used to keep working hard non-stop when I came from Capetillo. And Robert would be like “you need a day off.” I would never have that under Capetillo.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: You’ve maintained that the hand wrap issue was all Capetillo’s doing. Do you maintain contact with him? Has he ever given you a straight answer on if he’s used illegal wraps before with you or other fighters?

Margarito: I haven’t had any communication with Javier. The last time I really spoke with him is when we both went before the California State Athletic Commission. Before my last fight in Mexico, he did call to say good luck, and afterward to say congratulations.

He did what he did, and I suffered for it. I’ve asked him what happened, and all he’ll say is that it was a big mistake and he made an error. I ask how he could do that with me, and he says “don’t ask me and I’m sorry.” I let it go from there. I have to move forward with my career.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: Your name really became known on a national level after Floyd Mayweather refused to fight you for $8 million dollars. At that time, he had just split with Bob Arum. You also confronted Mayweather, and he told you that you would eventually get your shot. Do you think it was fear, or the animosity between him and Arum that kept that fight from happening?

Margarito: I really don’t know what his reasoning was for not taking the fight with me. It could have been that he saw I’m a big Mexican, a fighter that goes forward and throws a lot of punches. Maybe he was too worried to take that chance and lose a fight. He’s a fighter who keeping that [undefeated] zero is very important to him.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: On 24/7, you and your team did a joke about your hand wrap suspension. Considering that many people see you as guilty, and the seriousness of that issue, did you consider how that footage may affect your chances of reinstatement with other state boxing commissions?

Margarito: I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone by doing that. It was more of something for the 24/7 because we were joking. I was surprised when they came in and put it on my hands. I don’t know if you noticed my facial expression when they put it on me, but I just rolled with it.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: Who would you put down as your top five favorite boxers of all time?

Margarito: You know what, I’ll only give you one, and that’s Julio Cesar Chavez. I actually never thought anyone was better than Chavez. That’s a question that I’ve never been asked. Ever since I was a child, I’ve idolized Chavez. It was because of him that I became a fighter myself.

Beats, Boxing & Mayhem: I know you have to get back to work, so let’s wrap up on this note. Who were your most difficult opponents, and who would you classify as the biggest punchers you’ve faced?

Margarito: The toughest fights I’ve been in have been were Antonio Diaz and Miguel Cotto. As far as the strongest punchers, I want to say Alfred Ankamah and Danny Perez.

Antonio Margarito meets Manny Pacquiao this Saturday (November 13) on HBO pay-per-view at 9 PM ET.

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Antonio Margarito Talks Mayweather and Controversial 24/7 Hand Wrap Gag

Posted: November 9, 2010 in Fight News
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Antonio Margarito faces off this weekend against Manny Pacquiao. But like his opponent, Margarito’s career in recent years has received much attention due to one opponent neither of them has been able to get in the ring, Floyd Mayweather.

In 2006, Antonio Margarito was a tenured WBO welterweight titlist looking for his big opportunity to break into the mainstream. That golden goose seemed to appear when his promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, offered his stablemate Floyd Mayweather a career-high $8 million dollar payday to face him. Mayweather had expressed his discontent with Arum’s handling of his career, and the offer was viewed as Arum’s way to keep Floyd in-house against a tough opponent.

Mayweather countered that he also wanted guarantees that he would also get to face Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton for at least $10 million a piece, something Arum did not feel Mayweather was worth based on his ticket sales and pay-per-view viability at that point. Mayweather walked, and Margarito lost what would have been his biggest fight.

However, Bob Arum used Mayweather’s departure as the centerpiece of a campaign that helped make Margarito a national name. Dubbin him as the “most feared fighter in the sport,” Arum took every opportunity to claim Mayweather turned down the offer completely out of fear. Margarito even went as far as to famously confront Mayweather at a press conference regarding a title shot. Mayweather advised him that they would eventually fight, but later infamously stated “we’re not fighting to prove to the boxing fans who the best is.”

Mayweather never seriously looked at Margarito as an opponent following his departure from Top Rank. Even today, Margarito is not sure if it was fear or promotional issues that made Mayweather turn him down. But the Tijuana Tornado does believe it was a stylistic matchup that concerned Mayweather.

“I really don’t know what his reasoning was for not taking the fight,” Margarito told Beats, Boxing & Mayhem. “It could be because he saw I’m a big Mexican, a fighter that goes forward and throws a lot of punches. Maybe he was too worried to take that chance. He’s a fighter that keeping the ’0′ is very important to him.”

Margarito’s hand wrap scandal is a controversy that will linger for the rest of his career. To some, he did no favors for his image by joking about the incident on the second episode of HBO’s 24/7: Pacquiao-Margarito. On the show, Margarito’s team placed a block of cement on his hand while he feigned aloofness to what was going on.

When asked if that was wise considering his license is currently revoked in California, and could be still be in other states, Margarito explains that he was unaware of the joke until the last-minute.

“I didn’t mean to disrespect anybody by doing it,” Margarito explained to Beats, Boxing & Mayhem. “It was more something for the 24/7 because we were joking. I was surprised when they came in and put it on my hands. I don’t know if you noticed my facial expression when they put it on me, but I just rolled with it.”

HBO’s last 24/7 show will be air this Friday (November 12) at 9:30 PM.

The Pacquiao-Margarito PPV card begins Saturday (November 13) at 9 PM.

Behind the Scenes of HBO’s 24/7: Pacquiao-Margarito

Posted: October 21, 2010 in Fight Interviews
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Every season, TV writers and producers are faced with the challenge of keeping their product fresh and edgy for viewers. HBO’s 24/7 is the same in that respect. But unlike their peers, the Emmy-winning series creates their shows without a set script, and only have four episodes to build anticipation for the payoff, which is an anticipated PPV fight instead of a season finale. On Saturday night (October 23), series veteran Manny Pacquiao and newcomer Antonio Margarito will take center stage as the latest boxers to open up their lives up to the 24/7 drama.

Senior HBO producer Dave Harmon has been involved with 24/7 since its beginnings hyping the Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya superfight in 2007. Neither Pacquiao nor Margarito’s last fights had the back stories to warrant a 24/7. But each man’s recent out of the ring activities (Pacquiao’s congressional win in the Philippines , and Margarito’s license denial in California) have supplied the necessary ammo to warrant the first 24/7 since Mayweather-Mosley in May.

But will this truly be a new experience, or simply a rehash of past exploits? Dave Harmon explains why fans can expect surprises with this edition.

Ismael AbduSalaam: Before we get into the show, lay out exactly what your responsibilities entail as senior producer of HBO 24/7.

Dave Harmon: I’m a senior producer for 24/7. That means I’m responsible for the big picture of the show. There are producers who work in each camp. We have one producer who gets all the footage from Pacquiao’s side, and a different producer who gets all the material from Margarito’s side. These segments we put together for the greater whole, which is the 24/7 half-hour show. I’m in charge of making sure the two segments are going well, and when the big picture is combined into one show it all makes sense.

AbduSalaam: When you send those producers in there, do you have set storylines or look to see what develops spontaneously?

Harmon: It’s a combination of both. In Margarito’s camp, we know we want to talk about his suspension for the illegal hand wraps. We want to talk about his new trainer. On the Pacquiao side, we wanted to talk about his becoming a congressman. At the same time, with our crew being there for five weeks, lots of things do happen that we don’t expect. We have lots of flexibility to show that stuff, too.

AbduSalaam: Do you have any issues with fighters being open and emotionally accessible with the cameras being around?

Harmon: Now that we’ve done so many, they’re very open to us. They’re very familiar with the series even if they haven’t done it before. Margarito hasn’t, but he’s certainly seen the show and understands what’s required. Everyone is as open as we can possibly hope for.

AbduSalaam: Have you been involved with 24/7 since the beginning in 2007?

Harmon: Yes I have.

AbduSalaam: Maybe you can clear up some possible hyperbole. Floyd Mayweather has boasted since the show’s inception that he’s the creator of 24/7. Can you verify if it was his idea?

Harmon: Well, I’m not on the side of where it came about. Once it did come about, then they assigned me to work on it. So, I’m not really qualified to answer that.

AbduSalaam: Let’s talk about the post-production window. What’s the process of getting everything compiled into one weekly show?

Harmon: It takes a week because we don’t air things that happened more than a week ago. If something happens that week, it goes on the air that Saturday night. There is a cut-off of Thursday; anything that’s shot on a Friday really couldn’t make it back to us in time to edit and put in the show. So I would say it’s on a cycle of Friday-Thursday that goes into the next week’s show.

AbduSalaam: Has there been cases where you haven’t aired footage because it’s been too over the top?

Harmon: The only thing I could think of is every once and awhile you’ll get someone that’s very aware of the camera. It’s usually not the fighters. They play to the camera and don’t talk in a normal tone of voice. They’re either whispering or yelling.  And we want to keep it as real as possible, so we wouldn’t use a scene like that.  But there are no content things we’ve seen that have been too crazy. We do show everything that’s happening in the camp.

AbduSalaam: How difficult is it to maintain interesting storylines? There are only two superstar fighters in boxing in Mayweather and Pacquiao, so we’re seeing the same fighters getting showcased in many of the 24/7’s. Is this becoming a major issue?

Harmon: It’s been easier than we thought. Almost each show has had a fighter that’s never been on 24/7 before: whether that’s Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito. So we’re telling a story we never told before. On the flipside, we almost always have a fighter that’s been on the show before like Manny Pacquiao.

We’ve been lucky with Pacquiao. Last series there was a typhoon before he fought Cotto. We told the story of what was going on there [in the Philippines]. Here this time he’s on congress and juggling that with his boxing duties. So that’s a new story for us. The longer we go in the series, and the more times we go to Manny Pacquiao, perhaps it will be even more difficult. But so far we haven’t had that problem.

AbduSalaam: 24/7 right now is exclusive to the big, PPV attraction fights. Do you see it extending to the HBO network fights?

Harmon: I think it could extend to the fights on HBO. But I do think right now, HBO is concentrating on different sports for the network 24/7 shows. In January we did a story on Jimmy Johnson, the NASCAR driver, leading up to the Daytona 500. In December and January 2011 we’re going to do a show on the [NHL’s] Penguins and Capitols, and those aren’t leading up to a pay-per-view.  It’s possible for boxing, but it seems the focus is keeping what we have and expanding into other sports first.

AbduSalaam: With the first show coming on Saturday, what do you think fans will be most surprised by? Will it be the hand wraps or anything else?

Harmon: On the hand wraps, that’s a difficult one. I’m not sure it’ll surprise fans, but Antonio Margarito himself hasn’t been on camera in a very many places talking about this issue. He’s kept fairly quiet and let other people do his talking for him. So viewers will get to see for themselves, and hopefully for the first time, Margarito saying he didn’t know about what was going into the hand wraps. They can decide for themselves how genuine he is when he says that. And whether they feel he did know, or is telling the truth. I think that’s pretty significant.

In this coming episode, I had only heard about Pacquiao’s congressional responsibilities. When I see it in video, it surprised me how serious those responsibilities are. I had a hard time imagining it at first. But you get to see it and the people who depend on him. You see the place where he has to show up and face two feet of paperwork at his desk. You realize that he’s not just fooling around and actually doing this.

AbduSalaam: Regarding the hand wraps, you know the fact that Margarito is being allowed to fight again, let alone in a big fight, is very controversial in itself. In gathering all this footage, did this change your personal opinion on that situation?

Harmon: [Pauses] I am paid to be a television producer…My opinion is not something I care to repeat in an official interview. I’m sorry.

AbduSalaam: No problem, I understand. Let’s switch gears real quick to the NHL 24/7 you mentioned. How differently do you approach the series when dealing with a team sport?

Harmon: The approach is actually fairly similar. Obviously, it’s different with 20 players as opposed to one fighter. But the approach is to find the type of access you can’t get anywhere else, and put that footage in there. Anyone can watch the Penguins play the Flyers. So we’re not going to chronicle it the way TV would cover it. We’re going to put mics on the players and show from the ice level what the players go through during the game. We wouldn’t call it game coverage. It’s more so covering the personalities. Like boxing, it’s trying to get the viewer something they can’t get anywhere else.

AbduSalaam: With Pacquiao-Margarito, how’s the production coordination being that they’re based in Mexico and the Philippines?

Harmon: Most 24/7’s have had shoots in the Philippines, England and Mexico. At this point, the world is a small place. We can get the footage satellited or messaged back in a fairly short amount of time. Whether in America or a foreign country, it’s not an issue at all.

AbduSalaam: Any closing thoughts?

Harmon: I have been very pleasantly surprised about the Pacquiao and Margarito storylines. Like one of your questions about keeping the stories fresh, I think people will be really surprised. It feels like a 24/7, but everyone has fresh and new storylines. And I hope people will enjoy it as much as I like it so far.

The first episode of 24/7: Pacquiao-Margarito airs on HBO this Saturday (October 23) at 10:30 PM ET. A new show will air every Saturday preceding the live PPV fight on November 13 at Dallas Stadium.