Pacquiao: Margarito knows what was in hand wraps

BEVERLY HILLS, California - Manny Pacquiao believes in giving a second chance to disgraced boxer Antonio Margarito, his next opponent.

Pacquiao said he just doesn't believe Margarito was unaware he was wearing illegal hand wraps before a fight nearly two years ago. Though he agrees Margarito deserves a second chance in boxing, Pacquiao isn't buying Margarito's defense and the passionate arguments of promoter Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.

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"Of course, I believe he knew," Pacquiao said. "He's the one who wraps his hands. He's just making some alibi for some reason. What do you think? My belief is you (would) know that."

During an otherwise genial get-together on Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel, boxing's pound-for-pound champion said he wants somebody watching Margarito's hands getting wrapped before they meet in Texas, which is hosting the bout partly because Margarito is banned from the ring in Nevada and California.

"My concern is that we have somebody in the dressing room, someone else watching him," Pacquiao said.

The Philippines' new congressman will fight for a title in his eighth weight class when he meets Margarito on Nov 13 in a bout at Cowboys Stadium, which could be filled with more than 70,000 fans. Although the bout is for the vacant WBC 154-pound title, they'll meet at a 151-pound catch weight.

The fighters exchanged handshakes and later cracked up when they attempted the usual staredown pose, with Pacquiao laughing when he craned his neck to look up at Margarito, who is about five inches taller.

The matchup is undeniably dangerous for the much smaller-framed Pacquiao, who has won 12 straight fights, including a one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in March. Pacquiao will make sure it isn't even more perilous to fight Margarito, whose promising career was derailed when trainer Javier Capetillo was caught packing his wraps with a substance resembling plaster before Margarito's loss to "Sugar" Shane Mosley in Los Angeles in January 2009.

Wearing a canary-yellow polo shirt and demonstrating an increased ease with the media responsibilities of a superstar, Pacquiao took his position just moments after Arum launched another passionate defense of Margarito, who was denied a license to fight by the California state commission on Aug 18.

"Antonio Margarito did not know that those hand wraps were illegal, and there was something bad in those wraps," Arum said. "(There's) not one shred of proof ... there was a revocation. He served his time, and thank God, the people in the Texas boxing commission, who reviewed all the testimony, agreed with that conclusion."