By Miguel Rivera
Trainer Freddie Roach states that he never said Juan Manuel Marquez had used performance enhancing drugs to create his new muscular body. Marquez, training with controversial strength and conditioning coach Angel "Memo" Heredia, was the stronger fighter in the fourth match with Manny Pacquiao on December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
For the first time in their four fight series, Marquez dropped Pacquiao in the third round and finished him off with a crushing right hand in the sixth for the knockout. Pacquiao walked into a right hand that knocked him cold and sent him crashing face first to the mat.
Prior to the match, Roach had said if Marquez's body was actually natural he would "kiss his ass." Marquez passed all of the necessary pre and post drug tests. Now Marquez and his Heredia are considering a lawsuit against Roach for defamation.
"I never said he used anything. I said he didn't look natural. I don't know anything about [Marquez using banned substances]. I'm not going to accuse anyone [of doing something illegal]. He won the fight. Manny got hit with a punch he never saw coming. [Pacquiao] looked good in the fight but he made a mistake and got caught," Roach said.
Top Rank, who work with Pacquiao and Marquez, would like to stage a fifth fight in 2013. It probably would not happen until September.
