division world boxing and pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao on Saturday vehemently denied rumors that he used steroids in his lopsided victory against welterweight challenger Shane Mosley last May 7. The Pacquiao camp made the denial on the day the Filipino boxing superstar arrived to another warm welcome in Manila from the United States following his successful defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title. Jake Joson, Pacquiao's chief of staff, said the Filipino boxer and lawmaker doesn't need drugs to win fights. “In the long years that I have been with Congressman Pacquiao, I never saw him take any illicit drug or even light a cigarette,” Joson said in a radio interview. He said Pacquiao only uses food supplements and only during training. “It's only during training when he takes vitamins and supplements, nothing else,” he said. Rumors earlier spread through the Internet about Pacquiao's alleged Filipino sparring partner who claimed to have injected Pacquiao with steroids before his fight with Mosley. The alleged sparring partner allegedly gave Pacquiao the injection in the locker room of the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles where he trained before the Mosley fight. Mosley later picked up the rumor and spread it through his Twitter account. Joson underscored that Pacquiao won his fights fair and square against Mosley. “They strength he showed in the fight was just natural,” he said. Pacquiao's top aide also pointed out that the boxing champion had not had a Filipino sparring partner since he started fighting in the US. He said the last time Pacquiao sparred with a Filipino boxer was in Cebu when he was preparing for his fight against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003. Joson said their lawyers are now tracking down the source of the Internet rumor.
