<div><p>Manny Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, was cleared by a jury on Friday of assaulting a former member of the Filipino fighter's entourage at a gym in Hollywood.</p><p>After deliberating for part of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the jury found in favour of Roach and rejected claims brought by Gregorio Asuncion and his wife, Allyson, in a lawuit.</p><p>Roach denied Asuncion's claim that the trainer punched him twice outside the locker room of the Wild Card Gym on October 20, 2008.</p><p>According to court documents, Asuncion was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for a neck sprain and contusion to the head.</p><p>Roach testified this week that he only put his hands on the man's shoulders as he tried to shepherd him out of the gym when Pacquiao was beginning to train.</p><p>He said he then squeezed Asuncion's shoulders in order to keep his balance when he felt Asuncion pull back.</p><p>Roach, 49, arrived at the court in shorts and a sweat shirt on Friday just as the verdict was being read.</p><p>He leaned back and looked upward in apparent relief as his lawyer, Arthur J. Chapman, told him the news.</p><p>Outside the courtroom, Roach personally thanked jurors, took a photo with at least one of them and offered them all tickets to Pacquiao's fight against Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas on March 13.</p><p>Roach said he was relieved by the verdict.</p><p>"I didn't get much sleep last night, but when I heard there was a verdict after such a short time I believed it was in my favour," Roach said.</p><p>"I'm not a bad person. I simply asked this man to leave and he didn't. I don't go around hitting people and if he wants to come back to the gym sometime he can."</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66993327&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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