Saturday night’s bout between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito doesn’t have the sizzle that a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather showdown would have, but that doesn’t mean that this one is lacking drama.
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, has said over the past few months that he’ll be checking Margarito’s hand wraps prior to the fight, given his history of cheating.
Now, Roach is calling into question the character of the entire Margarito camp.
“They’re so disrespectful to me and the hand pad issues,” Roach said, according to the Guardian. “It’s like a slap in the face, like [saying], ‘We got caught with something, but we’re still here fighting.’ I think it shows [Margarito’s] true character. I don’t think they are a good group of people.”
Roach’s comments come after Margarito’s trainer, Robert Garcia, jokingly brandished some brass knuckles in an interview, inviting Roach to inspect the fighter’s gloves. Margarito was also seen in an Internet video apparently mocking Roach’s having Parkinson’s disease.
Garcia denied the video had any such intentions, but it’s obvious that with the fight now one day away, the tension is picking up.
