The firestorm passing through the sport of boxing right now ahead of one of the biggest events of the year is the revelation that Juan Manuel Marquez has hired Angel Heredia as his strength trainer to prepare him for the November 12th clash with Manny Pacquiao. Heredia, now going by the last name Hernandez according to 24/7 Pacquiao/Marquez, is best known for his time as a government witness during the BALCO scandal in 2005, when he admitted to supplying professional athletes with performance enhancers in return for no prison time. As disclosed early last week on FightHype, the notorious Victor Conte made it very clear that Heredia was an admitted steroid distributor who never served time due to his cooperation with the government.
Marquez will be fighting Pacquiao at a catchweight of 144 pounds for the latter’s WBO Welterweight title. He will be taking a huge chance considering he is 38 years old and has taken tremendous punishment in bouts since his last fight with Pacquiao three years ago. Not to mention, the last time Marquez fought at Welterweight in 2009 against Floyd Mayweather, he looked bloated at the weight, unable to deal with the size of the naturally bigger man. Now, with the help of Heredia, he appears to have filled in a little better, perhaps replacing water weight with actual muscle. Take a look at how Marquez looked on the night he fought Mayweather as opposed to now, roughly one week prior to his bout with Pacquiao:
