Cheato goes Creepo with viral video mocking Roach

Remember Antonio Margarito’s motivation for ? It was a fight to rehabilitate his reputation, knock out the cheato and restore his good name. Well, forget it. Marga- cheato became Marga-creepo with a video that could have been filmed, directed and produced by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Margarito could still beat Pacquiao Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. He is the bigger fighter. He has a vicious uppercut. He is as tough as he is strong. Don’t delude yourself, he has a legitimate shot. But the advertised chance at rehab is gone. Margarito has already lost that one with an AOL FanHouse video that, weak apologies aside, will forever be seen as obscene.

If Margarito’s shaking hands aren’t a gesture that mocks Pacquiao trainer ’s deadly battle with Parkinson’s, what is it? At least, those hands aren’t wrapped in something illegal.

Unlike stablemate Brandon Rios who stood up Thursday and accepted responsibility for his role in the mockery, Margarito has tried to spin, spin and spin away from accountability. If it sounds familiar, remember the wraps. Margarito said he didn’t know, couldn’t know, never knew that former trainer Javier Capitello had loaded his gloves with a plaster-like substance before it was discovered in the furor that preceded his loss to in January, 2009. Margarito refused to apologize, until finally he was badgered by the media into saying he was sorry for at least not knowing. I guess he doesn’t know when a rock is in his shoe, either.

Thanks to a loyal and defiant defense that cost promoter a reported $500,000, a willingness to give Margarito benefit of the doubt grew among some in the media and many in the public. California wouldn’t give him a license. But Texas did. Acceptance wasn’t complete. But Margarito had a chance and a $3 million purse. He’ll still get the money, but his reputation has been infected by video gone as viral as the racist, homophobic rant that Mayweather dropped into the Internet and onto Pacquiao in September. By the way, Mayweather tried to apologize, too.

Margarito apologizes by saying that his shaking hands were misinterpreted and taken out of context in a video that he suggests was edited in a way designed to create controversy.

“I would never make fun of Freddie Roach or anyone with that disease,” Margarito said Thursday in surprise appearance at a news conference for Saturday’s undercard. “I have someone in my family who has it. I’ll tell you how it happened: There was a guy in the gym with a camera and he said, ‘Freddie Roach said you’re going to be knocked out.’

“I shook my hands and said, ‘Oh, I’m really scared now.’ ”

But the video, without any apparent editing at that point, moves directly to Rios. He begins to shake his head. That’s when Margarito trainer Robert Garcia says “Hey, there’s Freddie Roach.’’ No denials are heard on the video. And there were no denials from Rios Thursday.

“I take responsibility for what I did,” said Rios, a who fights Omri Lowther on the undercard. “I’m a man about it. It was wrong and I’m sorry.” Meanwhile, Roach said he got a call Thursday from Garcia, who offered a sincere apology. Roach said he accepted. He said he was ready to move on. Roach also told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole that he “would shake (Margarito’s) hand to end this.’’

But those are hands few can ever trust.