By Ronnie Nathanielsz
MANNY Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says he will insist on random drug tests by the Volunteer Anti Doping Agency, headed by Dr. Margaret Goodman, should they agree on a fifth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Koncz told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that both he and Pacquiao watched a replay of the Marquez-Alvarado fight on Sunday and he thought Marquez “did an okay job. Styles make fights and Alvarado was much slower than Marquez.”
The adviser said he was not going to make any allegations without any evidence, but added that he would certainly insist on random drug tests if ever Pacquiao fights Marquez.
“We are not even discussing a fight with him (Marquez), so why would I jump the gun and make an allegation by saying that if we fight you, we need a drug test because that implies he’s dirty. I’m not going to do that,” said Koncz.
However, Koncz emphasized that - “we had Timothy Bradley do drug testing, Brandon Rios do drug testing, so that’s our protocol from now on in any fights we do [but] we are not accusing anybody of anything.”
Koncz refused to be drawn into a controversy following Victor Conte’s series of allegations on his Twitter account that Marquez was on performance-enhancing drugs when he scored a dominating win over Mike Alvarado last Saturday.
Conte wrote on his Twitter account - “Marquez is 40 years old with muscles popping out, acne all over his chest. Elevated testosterone levels in teen males cause acne."
Much of the controversy with Marquez is due in part to his working relationship with conditioning coach Angel “Memo” Heredia. That’s because Heredia was known to have administered performance-enhancing drugs to US Olympic athletes, including multi-gold medal winner Marion Jones.
Since Marquez's association with Heredia, many insiders have noted the increased muscular build on the Mexican veteran.