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Tragic Cases of Cheating in Boxing!

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

Across the world in South Africa, the Australian cricket team has been caught up in a cheating scandal when a player was caught by TV cameras using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in order to help their chances of victory in the match. The ill advised tactic has led to a huge outcry in the sport and in Australia which has led to a number of senior players being banned.

Only recently in Boxing we saw Gennady Golovkin throw a few punches before his rematch with Saul Alvarez by questioning the motives of Alvarez and his failed drug tests. With that in mind, now is the perfect time to look at two other occasions in the sport of boxing where boxers were found to be breaking the rules of the game.

Hands of Stone

Nope this isn’t the famous hands of Roberto Duran but of former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito.

Margarito was fresh off the biggest win of his career, facing an undefeated champion in Miguel Cotto, Margarito was able to turn the tide in the second half of the fight and win the contest in the 11th round, giving Cotto his first career loss and capturing the WBA welterweight title in the process. His next fight would be against an equally formidable opponent, ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley.
Whilst Mosleys trainer Naazim Richardson was in the dressing room observing the wrapping of hands for Margarito, he noticed a powdery substance. Bringing this to the attention of officials, Margarito was forced to rewrap his hands.

The fight went on and Mosley would destroy Margarito with a 9th round TKO but the headline was yet to be made. The powdery substance which was used by Margarito’s team turned out to be Plaster of Paris. This powder would harden when wet, a given when a fighter’s hands would sweat whilst boxing, effectively giving the boxer a harder punch. The outcome led to bans being handed out to Margarito and his trainer and the results of his previous fights, most notably his win over Miguel Cotto, being called into doubt.

Two and a half years later, Cotto and Margarito would meet in a rematch and Cotto would exact revenge with a 10th round TKO. It would be Margarito’s third loss in four fights since his famous win over Cotto in their first encounter and the discovery of the powdery substance, and with this loss Margarito would retire from the sport before making a comeback over four years later.

Tragedy

On June 16 1983, the real ‘Hands of Stone’, Roberto Duran was fighting Davey Moore for the WBA light middleweight title. On a night of triple celebrations for Duran, he would win the title from Moore after dominating for eight rounds, celebrate his 32nd birthday and finally lay to rest the ghosts from the ‘No Mas’ loss to ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard. But the story was only just unravelling for a former sparring partner of Duran’s also fighting on the same card, Luis Resto.

Resto would be battling with the up and coming undefeated light middleweight prospect Billy Collins, JR. Resto was considered a journeyman and was never seen as a heavy puncher but entering the fight as the underdog he put on a spirited performance as both fighters traded punches and punched to the end. By the end of the fight, Billy Collins, JR. had both eyes grotesquely swollen shut and had lost the bout on points. As his father Billy Collins, SR. went to congratulate Luis Resto on his win, when shaking hands he noticed the gloves were abnormally thin. The gloves were immediately confiscated and an investigation began.

Billy Collins, JR. had suffered a torn iris and permanent blurred vision which meant he would not be able to box again, putting an end to a promising career. The gloves it turned out, had padding removed and it was later also discovered that Plaster of Paris had also been used to harden the hand wraps. Less padding and hardened wraps meant Collins, JR was effectively being hit for 10 rounds by bricks. Years later, Resto would also admit his trainer Panama Lewis would break up tablets used for asthamtics and mix it with his water, which would open up his lungs and give him a second wind(sound familiar to clenbuterol? Panama Lewis was also the trainer in Aaron Pryor’s corner during his fight with Alexis Arguello and was caught up in the infamous comment ringside “Not that bottle, the one I mixed.”)

Without boxing to live for and having his dreams stolen from him, the life of this once promising boxer spiralled out of control until tragedy struck on 6th March 1984 when the car he was travelling in crashed and the 22yr old Collins, JR. lost his life.

In 1986 Luis Resto was found guilty of assault, conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon for his part in the cheating and the death of Billy Collins, JR. and would serve two and a half years in prison.

Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.

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