Juan Manuel Marquez Admits Conditioning Coach is a Former Steroids Dealer

Juan Manuel Marquez Admits Conditioning Coach is a Former Steroids Dealer

Juan Manuel Marquez, World boxing lightweight champion, came in defense of Angel Hernandez (or Angel Heredia), his new strength and conditioning coach who has been involved in performance enhancing drugs and steroids issues in the past, according to a report from RingTV.com.

Hernandez, who was hired by Marquez to help him prepare for his upcoming bout with Filipino boxing champion Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, reportedly admitted to a San Francisco court in May 2008 that he had supplied Olympians, including Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, with performance enhancing substances like the blood-booster EPO, growth hormone and insulin

He also admitted to selling banned substances to other Olympians, including gold medalists Antonio Pettigrew, Jerome Young and Dennis Mitchell, according to a BBC report.

In a conference call with RingTV and other boxing media, Marquez defended Hernandez and said he has no knowledge of his new nutritionist's dealings with steroids.

"I didn't find out any of this other stuff until it was written over the last couple of days. It was big news to me," Marquez said, adding "I just knew that he had trained a lot of elite and world class athletes before I met him. We talked about what we needed to do. I was very happy with what he told me that I needed to do."