Pacquiao's foe Margarito denied boxing license

Manny Pacquiao’s title showdown with Antonio Margarito suffered yet another stumbling block when the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) denied the request of the Mexican for a new boxing license with barely less than three months before his Nov. 13 fight with the Filipino ring icon. A 5-1 vote decided the fate of the 32-year old Margarito to get his license back that was revoked by the same California boxing body for having caught the Tijuana native carrying a plaster-like substance in his hand wraps prior to his 2009 encounter with Sugar Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The verdict was another damaging blow in Margarito’s bid to earn back the respectability he lost following that embarrassing incident in January of last year, which culminated in a ninth round technical knockout loss to Mosley and yielded the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-welterweight title. Following the ruling of the CSAC, Las Vegas, Nevada is also scraped out of the list as possible site for the Pacquiao-Margarito bout. The Nevada State Athletic Commission earlier turned down a similar application by Margarito behind a 4-1 vote, insisting the 5-foot-11 Mexican boxer should apply a license first in California before the body could grant him one. All states in the U.S. typically abide by rulings from other states, although they are not obligated to do so. Turned down twice, Margarito’s team is now headed for Texas, hoping to finally get one there and make the Pacquiao fight happen at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. The $1.3 billion state-of-the-art playing arena was host to Pacquiao’s March 13 fight against Joshua Clottey, whom the Filipino ring superstar dominated in a 12-round unanimous decision to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title. Top Rank Promotions chairman Bob Arum admitted Margarito has already applied for a Texas license and is confident of being given one. So does Margarito’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli. “I can’t see any other commission not finding Tony totally worthy of a license, whether it’s Texas, Nevada or any other state," said the high-profiled lawyer. In the event Margarito fails to secure a license in the U.S, a best possible alternative is Mexico, a place Pacquiao hasn’t fought in and wouldn’t mind having the bout being held there. A long shot site is Abu Dhabi. In his testimony before the CSAC, Margarito insisted the way he did in the past that he wasn’t aware about his hand wraps being loaded and blamed the incident on his trainer, Javier Capetillo. Robert Garcia has since replaced Capetillo, whom Margarito fired in the aftermath of the controversy. But in its decision, the CSAC through commission member Steve Alexander stressed, `you can delegate authority, but not responsibility. - RCJ, GMANews.TV