Roach Denies that Pacquiao takes Steroids – News

By Boxing News - 09/16/2009 - Comments

roach3445By Eric Thomas: Freddie Roach, the trainer for Manny Pacquiao, denies that Manny takes steroids, saying in an interview at Boxing Fanhouse “Well, we [Pacquiao] have taken him a couple of times to be tested, and we haven’t tested positive yet…all Manny’s on is white rice.” Yesterday, Floyd Mayweather Sr. had mentioned to the Grand Rapids Press that Pacquiao might be taking steroids. The interview quickly caught on with a number of sites with some boxing fans wondering if Pacquiao had been juicing (using steroids) in the past to gain weight for his fights against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton.

Some people are suggesting that Pacquiao has a much wider look to him and that his head looks bigger than it was before. Some growth hormones have a side effect of causing the user’s jaw and face to become larger, apparently. Roach thinks the whole idea is crazy, commenting “Steroids? Where in the hell did that come from? You know, these guys had to come up with a reason why they lost. They lost because [Mayweather Sr.] sucks as a trainer and I had a better fighter.”

Let’s hope that Roach’s denial of steroid use for Pacquiao suffices with boxing fans. As you know, boxing fans sometimes believe the worst and even when denials of guilt are given, many of them continue to believe the original rumor. Whether the accusations of Pacquiao using steroids are true or not, steroids aren’t something that could help Pacquiao in his fight against Miguel Cotto on November 14th. Steroids help for gaining weight and strength, but as Mayweather Sr. point out in his interview, steroids don’t make you a better fighter.

If Pacquiao is going to beat Cotto, he’s going to have to be better than him, period. Any size or strength that Pacquiao could get from steroids still likely wouldn’t be enough to put Pacquiao in the power and size class of bigger and stronger welterweights like Antonio Margarito, Andre Berto and Shane Mosley.

All the steroids would do is make Pacquiao slower, more hittable and mess with his stamina and flexibility. Steroids can help in certain sports like baseball, where they allow hitters to drive the ball much further. Since swinging a bat is something that doesn’t require endurance like boxing, hitters who take steroids are able to capitalize on using them to hit more home runs. In boxing, steroid use might help a fighter be more powerful for one or two rounds at best, but after that it’ll only lead to them getting tired quicker and running out of gas.



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