Henry Roldán
When you have both talent and fame, it might be difficult to keep both. That is why it’s not surprising that we keep adding examples to the list of the greatest athlete scandals in sports history. Some of these will be shown in the following list, which compiles the worst Latino sporting scandals of all time.
5.- Antonio Margarito’s gloves
In 2009, Mexican Antonio Margarito starred in one of the worst scandals in modern boxing. The fighter was suspended for 12 months from any fight in U.S. territory after a cast was found in the gloves with which he fought for the WBA super welterweight title against Shane Mosley.
Margarito denied the charge repeatedly, but even Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto, who had lost to Margarito a year earlier, accused him of the same practice in their fight. This was indeed a turning point in the inspection of boxing gloves; moreover, everyone’s biggest concern at the time was that Margarito might have had easily killed someone as a result of this illegal conduct.
4.- José Canseco and his quiet life on steroids
In the late 1990s, Jose Canseco was one of those MLB players who managed to halt the crowd in their seats with his amazing home runs every time he appeared in the batter’s box. However, years later that happiness would come to an end.
With the unveiling of the steroid era in MLB, the Cuban was one of the first to be singled out for using all kinds of hormones and steroids to enhance his performance. This is something he never denied and rather vehemently stated in a book in which he not only revealed his own story, but also the stories of many other players of his time, whom he identified by name and surname. He is known as “The Godfather of steroids” for a reason.
3.- Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God”
It’s no secret that Argentina’s Diego Maradona is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player in history. But, as we said at the beginning of our article, being the best does not exempt you from being controversial or from being on our list of the worst Latino sporting scandals.
In addition to all the well-known drug problems during his career, on June 22, 1986, in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Mexico against England, Maradona led Argentina to the final with a great performance. This game is still famous for “The Hand of God,” a play in which he scored a crucial goal by jumping and hitting the ball with his left hand. Maradona was well aware of what he had done, but he brazenly celebrated the goal against the English team.
2.- Robinho’s Crimes
What could have been another successful career for a Brazilian footballer in Europe ended early due to injuries and excessive partying and alcohol. The 33-year-old Brazilian striker was sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually abusing a young Albanian woman in the checkroom of a café in Milan, together with five other Brazilian guys.
The events took place on January 22, 2013, when the footballer was playing his third season at AC Milan. The victim claimed that the six men made her drink until she lost consciousness and was unable to fight back. This was the second time he was accused of rape, as in 2009, during his time at Mancheste City, he had to deal with this issue from which he got off scot-free.
1.- Dealer Esteban Loaiza
One-time Mexican pitcher Esteban Loaiza, who played in 14 seasons in the Major Leagues, was sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison in the United States for drug possession.
Loaiza was convicted in California after being discovered with more than 44 pounds of cocaine and heroin destined for trafficking. The case was one of the most notable since the right-hander went on to make more than $50 million following his stint in MLB, thus it was unclear why he had to turn to drug trafficking.
Loaiza was freed from prison in August 2021 and extradited to Mexico, where he must serve five more years on probation. In this regard, we rank him first on our list of the worst Latino sporting scandals.
