HOLLYWOOD ? Juan Manuel Marquez refuted speculations that he bulked up through performance enhancing drugs for his welterweight title showdown with Manny Pacquiao 10 days from now.
At the same time, he came to the defense of his controversial strength and conditioning coach Angel Hernandez, whom the Mexican referred to as a ?very professional guy.?
The added muscles gained by Marquez in so short a time training for his Nov. 12 date with Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was the most notable issue that cropped up during Wednesday?s live media conference call arranged by Top Rank Promotions to hype the third encounter between two of boxing?s biggest stars today.
The 38-year-old challenger from Mexico City reiterated that he?s not into performance enhancing drugs, and stressed that the well-sculpted body he currently possessed had been the result of a rigorous training and conditioning program provided by Hernandez.
?I?ve worked very hard and I?m not going to stop training and getting ready for the fight,? said Marquez. ?If they want to do whatever doping or drug testing that they want to do, Olympic-style, or whatever they want to do, I?ll do it. I?m prepared, just as long as (Pacquiao) does it too.?
Recent footages from Marquez?s training camp showed the Mexican sporting a well-defined body with added muscles as he tries to make another jump from lightweight to welterweight in a serious bid to make a third bout with the world?s top pound-for-pound fighter.
And it doesn?t help Marquez?s case that he had tapped Hernandez to condition him for the 12-round World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight fight. Hernandez?s sordid past precedes him, having been known as the same guy who provided disgraced track star Marion Jones the blood-booster EPO, growth hormone and insulin, and sold banned substances to sprinter Tim Montgomery.
Marquez said he?s never been aware about the issues surrounding the 36-year-old Hernandez until it cropped up in the news recently.
But the Mexican absolved Hernandez from administering any banned substances on him.
?I just knew that he had trained a lot of elite and world class athletes before I met him,? said Marquez. ?We talked about what we needed to do. I was very happy with what he told me that I needed to do. I think that he?s a very professional guy.?
Arguably, the best technical fighter ever to come out of Mexico, Marquez said it was unfair for guys like Alex Ariza, the strength and conditioning coach of Pacquiao, and Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) founder Victor Conte, insinuating that he?s into performance enhancing drugs just because he had Hernandez on his side.
?All of the work that I?ve done, and how hard that I?ve worked and all of the preparation, right now, that?s being just thrown into the trash can by guys like Conte and Ariza who are saying these things,? he said
Nacho Beristain, the long-time, venerable trainer of Marquez, also batted for the good work being done by Hernandez on his boy.
?I have the utmost respect for the work that he?s done for us. Every time that Juan Manuel comes to the gym, he has the power, the energy, and he?s giving me a guy that I know that I can work with who is going to be ready,? said the Hall of Fame trainer.
?That?s what make me feel that we?re going to have a good chance of winning this fight. I think that I just have the utmost respect for what he?s done, and how Juan Manuel has responded to his work.?
