12:55 AM
December 11, 2012 10:34am

Juan Manuel Marquez shook off rumors that he had taken steroids coming into his fourth fight against Manny Pacquiao, telling the Los Angeles Times' Lance Pugmire, "I am a clean fighter."

The Mexican, who scored a vicious sixth round KO of the Pacquiao, Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, also predicted that his pre and post-fight urine samples will come back clean.

In addition, he told Pugmire that for his next bout, "I'd like to do Olympic-style anti-doping tests with my opponent."

Marquez had shown up for training camp with an extremely buff physique, despite being 39-years-old.

Juan Manuel Marquez's impressive physique was the talk of Vegas, heading into his fourth fight versus Manny Pacquiao. Rafael Soto-Zanfer Promotions
Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, leaped to the conclusion that it was because of Marquez's relationship with strength and conditioning coach Angel "Memo" Hernandez, who infamously supplied performance-enhancing drugs to runners Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

Roach went so far as to tell USA Today, "If [Marquez's body] is natural, I will kiss his ass."

Marquez had denied Roach's accusation, saying at the time, "I have never done this type of work before. That's why my body has changed. I have been working very hard, specifically to get more strength"

Ironically, prior to the Marquez bout, Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather settled a defamation lawsuit, regarding Mayweather's comments that the Filipino had taken performance-enhancing drugs.

According to Pugmire's report, the Nevada State Athletic Commission did not perform a random drug test on either Pacquiao or Marquez during training camp. The results of their pre and post-fight tests are set to be released on December 17. - AMD, GMA News

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