DALLAS — Getting a boxing license for Antonio Margarito in Texas proved much easier than it did in California and Nevada. All it took was a $20 application fee and a clean bill of health from a doctor. No pesky hearing with state-appointed commissioners badgering him about the loaded gloves he was going to enter the ring with against Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in January 2009.
Margarito was licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on Thursday, eight days after the California State Athletic Commission, which revoked his license in February 2009, held a five-hour public hearing before turning him down. Nevada refused to license Margarito earlier this summer, requesting instead he return to California for the Aug. 18 hearing in Los Angeles.
The granting of a Texas license for Margarito means that as soon as Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones get together to iron out some minute details, an official announcement will come of a Margarito-Manny Pacquiao WBC 154-pound world title fight at Cowboys Stadium on Nov. 13.
"We have been sitting on pins and needles waiting for approval" said Todd DuBoef, president of Top Rank, which promotes Margarito and Pacquiao. "We are relieved Texas did its due diligence and approved the licensing."
DuBoef said Top Rank and Jones have an agreement in principle to stage what would be the second major card at Cowboys Stadium. A Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey bout in March attracted 50,994 fans with The Philippines’ Pacquiao, considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, the lone drawing card. It was a listless fight with Clottey, who is from Ghana, content to go the 12-round distance in losing by unanimous decision.
Citing the popularity of Tijuana’s Margarito with Hispanic fans, Arum has estimated that a Pacquiao-Margarito bout could draw a crowd of 70,000.
"We had everything in place, so we can pick it back up," Jones told reporters at Cowboys training camp before the news was officially announced.
HBO is planning to televise the fight for the vacant title on pay-per-view.
Margarito is 38-6 with 27 knockouts. Pacquiao, who holds the WBO 147-pound world title, is 51-3 with 38 knockouts. He hopes to win a title in his sixth weight class against Margarito.
The news of Texas’ decision to license Margarito came via a press release from William Kuntz, executive director of the Austin-based state’s licensing and regulation department.
"After a thorough review of his application it was determined Mr. Margarito met the requirements of the Texas Combative Sports Act and Rules," Kuntz said in the release. A department spokesperson said Kuntz would not be available for further comment until Friday.
California revoked Margarito’s license several weeks after he lost his WBA 147-pound world title via technical knockout to Mosley. Before Margarito entered the ring, a Mosley corner man asked that Margarito’s hand wraps be inspected. They were found to contain an illegal plaster-coated substance. The substance was removed, and his hands were re-wrapped.
At last week’s California hearing, Margarito repeatedly denied knowing that the substance had been inserted.
Source: Boston Herald
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