By: Sean Crose
Ryan Garcia, who stunned the world last month by generally beating up lightweight kingpin Devin Haney in a career defining victory now finds himself in the spotlight for having had a banned substance in his system before the fight went down in Brooklyn. Weeks ago, an A-sample of a drug test Garcia took came back positive for the banned substance Ostarine. A follow-up B-sample has now been tested and has provided the same result.
“Cheaters don’t prosper,” Devin Haney’s father Bill said on Fight Hub TV. “They’re ain’t nothing funny about what the Garcia team and what Ryan Garcia did. Expect something serious. There’s ramifications in this. We signed up for a fair fight and didn’t get it.” As far as the elder Haney was concerned, the difference between his son and Garcia was black and white. “Devin represents being a clean fighter,” he continued, “a family man representing the community, not cheating, not using steroids, not being a bad example to the kids.”
Needless to say, Garcia’s legal team responded to the test results promptly.
“Ryan Garcia is committed to clean and fair competition and has never intentionally used any banned substance,” a statement claimed. “Soon after being notified of his positive test, Ryan voluntarily had his hair collected and shipped to Dr. Pascal Kintz, the foremost expert in toxicology and hair-sample analysis. This is consistent with contamination and demonstrably proves that Ryan had not ingested Ostarine over a period of time — the only way he would have had any advantage whatsoever in the ring.”
Garcia’s legal team also pointed out the fighter’s previous history of fighting clean.
“Ryan has voluntarily submitted to test throughout his career,” the statement read, “which have always shown negative results. He also tested negative multiple times leading up to the fight against Haney. All of these factors, combined with his ultra-low levels from samples taken on April 19th and 20th (in the billionth of a gram range), point to Ryan being a victim of supplement contamination and never receiving any performance enhancing benefit from the microscopic amounts in his system. We are certain that one of the natural supplements Ryan was using in the lead up to the fight will prove to be contaminated and are in the process of testing the supplements to determine the exact source.”
Per ESPN, The New York State Athletic Commission has weighed in, as well. “The Commission strictly prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs,” the organization claimed, “and works vigorously to uphold the integrity of the sport and maintain a level playing field…where violations are found, the Commission will take action.”