By Dave Lahr: Freddie Roach is still yakking about the t-shirt Juan Manuel Marquez chose to wore when he visited the Philippines not too long ago. The t-shirt, which said Marquez beat Pacquiao twice, seems to have really angered both Pacquiao and Roach because neither of them seems to want to acknowledge the reality that many boxing fans felt that Marquez was the better man in the previous two fights against Pacquiao.

Roach has been talking about the t-shirt incident over and over again, saying that it was an insult to Pacquiao and that he’ll somehow fight harder because of that in the third Marquez fight. I think Roach is more upset about it than Pacquiao, though, because it really reflects on Roach the way that Pacquiao fought so poorly in the Marquez fights. Pacquiao looked amateurish most of the time and his defense was completely nonexistent. That’s the knock on Roach. He needs to put a sock in it. Marquez wore the t-shirt and I guess that’s hard for Roach to take. He probably wanted it to stay under wraps about how poor Pacquiao looked and how Marquez should have been given the decision in the two previous Pacquiao fights.

Roach said this to Sports Inquier.net: “When Marquez came to Manila wearing those t-shirts, it was a slap to Manny’s face. And payback’s a b****. I have to thank [Marquez] for that. He made it easier for me to motivate Manny.”

Does Pacquiao really need garbage like this to motivate him? Isn’t enough that Marquez won most of the rounds in the two fights and showed that he was the more skilled fighter? Shouldn’t that be the motivating factor for Pacquiao and not some stupid t-shirt that Marquez wore that basically stated the obvious. It’s not Marquez’s fault that Pacquiao fought so poorly in the two previous fights. If Roach had simply done his job the way he was supposed to and taught Pacquiao how to use his right hand and defend against punches, maybe he would have won both fights without controversy. But the fact is Pacquiao looked bad and Marquez was the more skilled guy.