Hearing required to clear Antonio Margarito to fight

The New York State Athletic Commission will conduct a Nov. 18 hearing before granting a license to Tijuana's Antonio Margarito for his scheduled Dec. 3 rematch against Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden.

Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) hasn't fought since losing a unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas, where he sustained right eye damage that earlier this year was considered career-threatening. A Pacquiao left uppercut shattered an orbital bone.

In May, Margarito underwent cataract surgery at a prestigous eye care center in Utah, and was later deemed capable of fighting again.

Increased scrutiny by regulators was expected.

Margarito promoter Bob Arum said Thursday that Margarito will be accompanied at the New York hearing by the ophthamologist who performed his surgery, along with another eye expert and an individual Arum described as the leading sports opthamologist in the world.

"We're confident he'll be OK," Arum said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be spending the money to show he's fine."

There was speculation that Arum was positioned to use Glendale's Vanes Martirosyan as a fill-in fighter if Margarito isn't licensed.

"We don't need a backup," Arum said.

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--Lance Pugmire

Photo: Antonio Margarito talks about his Dec. 3 bout against Miguel Cotto at a news conference in Los Angeles in September. Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

Still no deal after lengthy NBA talks

NBA owners and players Saturday endured their longest bargaining session since the league instituted its lockout three months ago but failed to strike a deal as the calendar creeps to a scheduled opening night Nov. 1 that appears increasingly vulnerable.

Saturday’s meeting featured exchanges of proposals and achieved what one player described to reporters as minor progress and “some closing of gaps” in a seven-plus hour meeting in New York.

“You have to remember how large the gaps were to begin with,” San Antonio Spurs forward-center Matt Bonner told reporters afterward.

The sides scrapped plans to meet Sunday, however, and instead will gather again Monday, union attorney Jeffrey Kessler told reporters. Bonner, of the union’s executive committee, told ESPN and the San Antonio Express-News part of that is due to the sides being a “little burned out.”

What was expected to be a lengthy weekend of talks opened Friday in an “engaging” fashion, according to Fisher, with NBA stars Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and others entered the talks.

While Wade provided a defining moment by shouting at Stern to not point his finger in the players’ direction as if Wade was a child, the talks closed with the commissioner publicly revealing a revenue sharing plan he indicated the players were warm to.

Stern, in a strong nod that owners can fix some of their own problems that led to the league claiming 22 of 30 teams are losing money and that teams lost a combined $300 million last season, said owners would triple the revenue-sharing pot to about $180 million for each of the first two years of a new deal and increase to at least $240 million in years three and beyond.

Sharing the wealth of lucrative big-market local television money that teams like the Lakers, News York Knicks and Chicago Bulls generate with small-market teams like Sacramento – which is further hamstrung in what it can charge for courtside seats and suites compared to the league giants – is deemed essential by those owners trying to remain competitive.

The players’ hope is that with more of those dollars spread around, the less they’ll be pointed at as the cause of the shortfall.

Before the weekend, the players had already agreed to a so-called “giveback” of salary, moving from their 2010-11 allowance of 57% of basketball-related income (approximately $2.15-plus billion) to somewhere around 53%.

The players previously balked at the owners’ proposal to pay a firm $2 billion in salaries for consecutive years while installing a firm team-by-team salary cap that the players argued would both deprive them of guaranteed contracts and of any upside should the economy recover with continually increased attendance and television ratings.

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Kobe Bryant to play in Italy? Not so fast

--Lance Pugmire

Lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter.com/latimespugmire

Photo: Derek Fisher, president of the NBA Players' Assn., talks to reporters after Friday's lengthy negotiating session. Credit: Michael Cohen / Getty Images

Joel Pineiro, Angels look for better results in Oakland

Manager Mike Scioscia said Monday afternoon that Angels right-hander Joel Pineiro "is like night and day from what we saw the last time we were here." Pineiro better be, or it could be a rough night for him and the Angels in the Oakland Coliseum.

The last time Pineiro faced the Athletics here, on July 17, he walked the first three batters in a first inning in which he gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- and four hits and retired just one batter before being pulled from an eventual 9-1 loss. Pineiro said afterward that he couldn't find his normal grip on the ball, which kept slipping out of his hand.

A rough four-start stretch in which he went 0-3 and gave up 22 earned runs in 13 1/3 innings got Pineiro bumped from the rotation. But he regained his starting spot on Aug. 20 and has gone 1-0 with a 3.79 earned-run average in three games.

The Angels enter Monday night's game trailing the Texas Rangers by 2 1/2 games in the American League West. The Rangers are idle.

The A's got a scare before the game when Andrew Bailey was hit above the right eye by a Kurt Suzuki-hit ball while shagging in the outfield during batting practice. Bailey was on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field under his own power.

The right-hander has been ruled out for Monday night's game, but doctors have also ruled out a concussion. 

The Angels lineup: 3B Maicer Izturis, CF Peter Bourjos, 2B Howie Kendrick, RF Torii Hunter, 1B Mark Trumbo, DH Vernon Wells, LF Mike Trout, SS Erick Aybar, C Jeff Mathis, P Joel Pineiro.

The A's lineup: 2B Jemile Weeks, SS Cliff Pennington, DH Hideki Matsui, LF Josh Willingham, RF David DeJesus, CF Ryan Sweeney, C Kurt Suzuki, 1B Brandon Allen, 3B Scott Sizemore, P Gio Gonzalez.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Photo: Angels starter Joel Pineiro delivers a pitch against the Balitmore Orioles during a game last month at Angel Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press