Ryan Garcia got the biggest win of his career victory when he defeated WBC 140-pound champion Devin Haney by majority decision on April 20 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
In that fight, Garcia, who was not eligible to win Haney’s belt after coming in at 143 pounds, dropped Haney three times.
However, Garcia’s performance has now been called into question.
According to Dan Rafael, Garcia tested positive for the banned PED Ostarine in a VADA test related to the Haney fight.
Garcia failed for Ostarine in two urine tests on April 19 and post-fight on April 20, according to the report.
According to WedMD, Ostarine attaches to proteins in the body known as androgen receptors. When ostarine binds to these receptors, it tells muscles to grow. People use Ostarine for athletic performance, involuntary weight loss due to illness, breast cancer, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.
Garcia has denied knowingly taking any performance enhancing drugs, and Golden Boy Promotions, Garcia’s promoter, backed their fighter via a statement on Wednesday night.
“Ryan has put out multiple statements denying knowingly using any banned substances — and we believe him,” Golden Boy Promotions said. “We are working with his team to determine how this finding came to be and will address this further once we conclude that process.”
This is a stunning turn of events. If everything is true, the fight will be ruled a ‘no contest, and Haney will be undefeated.
We’ll see how this plays out.
Photo: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda
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