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By Ryan Songalia
Luis Resto sat in his seat at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx on Friday night unaccompanied, waiting patiently for the Telefutura-televised fights to begin. There were no autograph requests from the other spectators in attendance, no well-wishers to greet the former welterweight boxer.
Still, the 56-year-old Resto says that he is in a better place in life more than two years after HBO released a documentary chronicling the aftermath of one of the darkest moments in boxing history; an event that continues to define Resto to this day.
The documentary, entitled Assault in the Ring, caught up with Resto 25 years after he entered a Madison Square Garden ring against Billy Collins Jr. with gloves that had an ounce of padding removed from them, and handwraps that had been soaked in Plaster of Paris.
In the documentary, Resto finally admits that he knew his gloves and wraps were tampered with prior to the fight after having denied advanced knowledge of it from the beginning.
For his actions, Resto and his trainer Panama Lewis were banned for life from professional boxing. Resto also served 2 and a half years in jail on numerous charges relating to the incident.
"When this documentary came out, everything changed," said Resto. "Now I think I'm a different guy.
"I used to walk around with my head down, but now I don't do that no more. Now I'm always laughing, but before I didn't laugh. Now I'm always laughing and playing around," said Resto.
Resto, who was a two-time New York Daily News Golden Gloves champion in the mid-70's, now works as a trainer at the Morris Park Boxing Club in the Bronx, "working with little boys and little girls" who have dreams of one day becoming Golden Gloves champions as well.
Boxing may be the only way Resto knows how to give back to a society that he has been an outcast from for many years. Resto says that he warns his pupils against the dangers of drugs and alcohol, pitfalls that plagued much of his life and career.
Having gone through his own scandal, Resto took exception to what he believed to be unfair leniency given to Antonio Margarito for his handwraps controversy prior to his bout with Shane Mosley in 2009. Margarito was suspended for a year after a "plaster-like substance" was found in his wraps.
"He should be suspended for life, like me," said Resto.
For now, Resto continues on training fighters, content to be involved again with the only outlet that he's ever done well with.
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMA News and the Filipino Reporter newspaper in New York City. He can be reached at
ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at
www.ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia .
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