It was Rafe Bartholomew who emailed me this morning about this story by Filipino-American boxing writer (and friend of the blog) Dennis ‘D Source’ Guillermo on some beef between Freddie Roach and everyone’s favorite sports writer, Quinito Henson. In his December 20 article in the Philippine Star, Henson quotes Roach directly as saying that if the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley pushes through, the Filipino champion’s camp would push for drug testing, citing previous allegations against Mosley on steroid use:

“It won’t be an easy fight for Manny,” said Roach who arrived here to celebrate Pacquiao’s 32nd birthday and was scheduled to leave Manila for Los Angeles last night. “I think he’s a tougher opponent than (Andre) Berto or (Juan Manuel) Marquez. He can punch with either hand. But if the fight pushes through, I’ll insist on a drug test. He’s been known to take steroids and it shows in his body.”

Roach, however, denies ever saying those words. In an interview with Lem Satterfield of Boxing Scene, he goes ahead and basically calls Henson a liar:

“That's a lie. I never said that. We turned that [drug testing] down once ourselves, so I would have to be a hypocrite to have said that,” said Roach. “So some Filipino writer has written that I had said that, but that’s not true. So I never said that. The thing is that I think that we’re taking the fight that would bring the most money to the table, and that's what the deciding factor will be.”

Of course, making up quotes from sources is completely inexcusable, and in more respectable journalism organizations, it would lead to getting fired. I’d be interested to see if Henson actually responds to this issue, since lately all he’s been willing to write about is his column’s Christmas pa-contest.

To be fair to Henson, it seems like Mosley’s past steroid use has been the subject of conversation during Roach’s last trip to Manila, as evidenced by Philip Ella Juico’s own Star column today about a dinner with the trainer. Juico’s last line about Roach asking for a Mosley drug test, however, doesn’t seem to be a direct quote but could in fact refer to Henson’s story.

It’s the toughest thing in the world to know who’s lying in a he-said, she-said story, but fortunately, we’ll have our answer soon enough when the Pacquiao-Mosley bout is signed, and if the Pacquiao camp does indeed insist on rigorous drug testing, which would vindicate Henson, or if they don’t, which would mean Quinito is indeed full of shit.

The saddest thing here is that none of these would probably matter, if we go by similar reporting transgressions by Filipino boxing journalists. In 2005, the Pacquiao camp accused Ronnie Nathanielsz of making up stories about the boxer, and even fabricating quotes from consultant Boying Nazario and Jinkee Pacquiao:

In his article, Nathanielsz quoted Team Pacquiao member Roberto "Boying" Nazario as saying: [When informed about a green card for Pacquiao and US citizenship reportedly promised by Finkel, Boying Nazario asked Pacquiao, "you want to turn your back on the Philippines?" which was the same question posed by Muhammad who said 80 million Filipinos have supported Pacquiao all the way and now he is thinking of being an American.]

The San Francisco-based Nazario, son of Pacquiao's business manager Rodolfo, stated that he has not talked to Nathanielsz, when Pacquiao tried to reach him by phone for comment.

In the same article, Nathanielsz reportedly was able to talk to Pacquiao's wife Jinkee, who begged to give comments about Pacquiao's decision to switch management teams, when he took in Shelly Finkel and lawyers Nicholas Khan and Keith Davidson (and not Kenneth, as reported by Nathanielsz) Wednesday.

"I never talked to him," said Jinkee, who is enjoying every bit of her stay here along with son Emmanuel Jr. after her husband transferred to a cosmopolitan two-bedroom apartment not too far from the Wild Card gym of Freddie Roach.

This issue between Henson and Roach is child’s play compared to what Nathanielsz, the former Marcos lackey, tried to pull. Today, no journalist save for Chino Trinidad has as much access to Pacquiao as Nathanielsz, who even scored a plush gig this year as a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

How’s that for punishment?

UPDATE: Quinito Henson sent an email to Philboxing addressing the issue. Meanwhile, Ronnie Nathanielsz defends his colleague and badmouths Roach on Twitter.