I don't know about you, but I couldn't be happier with the outcome of last weekend's big show.
Margarito is a cheater. You know it, I know it, he knows it. He's also a liar. His big hope was that beating the much smaller Pacquiao was somehow going to show the world that his victories and legacy was not based on cement handwraps, and that the incident on the night of Mosley-Margarito was simply a fluke. By beating Manny Pacquiao, he was going to show us that if he could beat the best fighter in the world clean, then surely it was possible the rest of his victories could have been legit without loaded gloves as well.
Instead, the exact opposite took place. Margarito was completely shut out, lost every round, and was barely ever in the fight at all. It was a lot like his fight against Shane Mosley, the only other major fight on record where we are certain his hands were clean. In that fight, his opponent showed no mercy and cleaned his clock to a knockout that Pacquiao certainly could have delivered as well had he so chosen. All of this seems to be confirmation that Margarito is completely worthless without loaded gloves. The guy is highly competitive against every other significant opponent before the handwraps scandal, but looks absolutely terrible in every major fight after? Yeah, he's a fraud.
Thus, I was happy to see him delivered a severe beatdown by Pacquaio. But let's take this a step further.
Prior to the fight Margarito and his stablemate Brandon Rios were filmed clearly mocking Freddie Roach's Parkinson's disease. It was obvious that they were completely aware of being filmed at the time. It was also obvious that their denial afterward of their awareness of his disease was complete BS. Manny Pacquiao is so huge that every casual sports fan is not only aware of his trainer like they are with Jimmy Jones or Phil Jackson, but that Roach suffers from Parkinson's. There's no way in hell either of those two goons didn't know of his affliction, most certainly not two guys so involved in the sport. Margarito's behavior was totally consistent with that of a scumbag who also loads his gloves before fights. Brandon Rios? All you had to do was catch his foul-mouthed, profanity laced brief profile on 24/7 which made Floyd Mayweather look like a member of the FCC to know that this guy was bad news.
The biggest shame though falls on trainer Robert Garcia. It's one thing for a fighter to be totally classless, but a trainer is a different story. Trainers are to some degree role models and advisors who fighters look up to. Thus, in cases of behavior and conduct, they are understandably held to a higher standard. If you watched the video, you'll see that Garcia was not only a willing participant, but more importantly encouraging both of them in their mockery of Roach. It's disgusting behavior from an opportunist whose attempt at head games completely backfired. Margarito's gameplan couldn't have been any worse as Garcia's fighter still displayed virtually no defense, and his offense was the worst I've ever seen from him. Way to go, new guy. I'm sure fighters will just be lining up at the door after watching your guy's pathetic display in the ring. I have no doubt that permanently staining your image by encouraging your fighters to mock people with disabilities, on film no less, was a worthy sacrifice.
And let's not forget Fernando "I thought that injectible steroids found in my system after the De la Hoya fight were vitamins from my nutritionist" Vargas leading the way on Margarito's walk to the ring. You couldn't have scripted the Good vs. Evil element here any better if you had Luis Resto wrapping Margarito's hands with Panama Lewis holding his water bottle in between rounds.
So in brief: Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, thank you for delivering justice on a group of classless dirtbags. Hope it was as fun for you as it was for us to watch.