With the bad blood between the Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao camps, you figured something would happen before the two even stepped in the ring. And I’m not even talking about Margarito making fun of Freddie Roach for Parkinson’s Disease. This time, the camps have traded pre-fight accusations.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, Roach complained that Margarito took ephedra prior to the fight and demanded an instant urinalysis. Margarito for his part did not sit quietly; his trainer Robert Garcia demanded a re-wrap of Pacquiao’s gloves, which actually were approved by the commission. Steve Cofield of Yahoo! Sports heard from Max Kellerman that it was a piece of prepped rolled tape that was placed in Pacquiao’s gloves.
So what was the story behind the ephedra accusations? From Iole, “I saw them try to give [Margarito] Hydroxycut and caught them,” [Freddy Roach associate Billy] Keane told Yahoo! Sports via text message. “He had coffee loaded with Splenda and sugar. The doctor said it was his choice to take the pills, but it would probably come up in the [post-fight urinalysis]. I did not see him take any pills.”
Numerous reports online have suggested Margarito was drinking coffee with splenda and now there have been reports of hydroxycut and ephedra being mixed in. Even if nothing happened, you have to figure at the least Roach is floating the accusations to try and get inside Margarito’s head. Given the way Margarito folded against Mosley following the loaded gloves incident, it’s not a bad strategy.
