Lucas Jones
Ryan Garcia’s victory over Devin Haney already carried an asterisk after Garcia seriously missed weight before the fight. Things only got more complicated this week when it was announced that Garcia failed drug tests the day before and on the day of the fight.
The situation has caused significant confusion for many. Garcia’s win will almost certainly be overturned, Haney will be officially undefeated once again, but fans saw Garcia defeat Haney, knocking him down three times on the way to a majority decision victory. In many ways, neither man comes out of the fight looking good.
There are a lot of questions about the future of both and we try to address some of them below. Other questions cannot be answered until the dust settles from Garcia’s failed drug tests.
Will there be a rematch?
While the reasons for a rematch are clear and include the potential for both men to make ridiculous amounts of money, it would be surprising if a rematch took place. Garcia rejected the idea shortly after news of the failed drug test broke. In his mind, Garcia got the win, why ruin it by running back?
Plus, it’s easy to see why Haney and his team would want nothing to do with a rematch on their side. Garcia’s behavior before the fight was bizarre, albeit staged, and he didn’t care about making weight, treating it as a joke and bragging about the weight advantage he would bring with him into the ring. Add in a failed drug test and why would Haney want to subject himself to another round of negotiations with Garcia?
Haney also made this clear when he spoke with ESPN to discuss the situation.
“Honestly, I’m not very interested in [a rematch],” Haney said. “You know, during the preparation we saw a lot of interesting things about him, we saw his character, we saw the guy cheat. We see the kind of person he is.
“I don’t see myself ever getting back in the ring (with him). But I’m a fighter, I’m talking now about how I feel, but we never know what the future holds.”
Where is Haney’s career after all?
Haney is still the WBC junior welterweight champion. The title wasn’t on the line after Garcia missed weight, so Haney still has plenty of strength moving forward. Garcia is not a 140-pound fighter, so this is an opponent considered to be the highest-ranked in the division.
The other champions in the division are Subriel Matias (IBF), Teofimo Lopez (WBO) and Isaac Cruz (WBA). Matias looks like a horrible fight for Haney after the issues Garcia exposed, but Haney would probably be a slight favorite over Lopez, who has melted down facing risk-averse pure boxers, and a big favorite against Cruz.
The loss to Garcia – which will almost certainly be overturned because of Garcia’s failed drug tests – led to a reevaluation of Haney’s standing in the sport and knocked it off the pound-for-pound listsbut he’s still an extremely talented fighter, a world champion and at least in the top three of the 140-pound division.
Haney and his team will certainly take some time to get back into the ring and pick an opponent that will allow the 25-year-old to start regaining his momentum.
What does all this mean for Garcia?
First, Garcia can request that his “B sample” be tested to confirm VADA’s findings. Generally, samples A and B return the same findings. But Garcia has this as his first option. Ostarine has often been linked to contaminated supplements, so Garcia could argue (possibly even honestly) that he didn’t use it knowingly. The fight would still be a no contest, but Garcia could see less punishment as a result if the failed test could be linked to a contaminated supplement.
VADA also stated that Garcia tested positive for 19-norandrosterone, although isotope ratio mass spectrometry analysis was still being conducted on that part of the test. If this is confirmed as positive, it could complicate things for Garcia’s defense.
As for Garcia’s in-ring career, it’s hard to say what’s next. Part of this comes down to not knowing the level of suspension Garcia will end up facing for failing drug tests. Boxing is a sport that can change quickly and if Garcia is out for a year or more, it’s hard to say what will come next.
After defeating Haney, Garcia said there’s no way he can make 140 pounds, but also seemed unwilling to get to 147, seemingly suggesting he would use his power as an A-side to demand fighters meet him somewhere around 144. -145 lbs.
It shows something about Garcia that is becoming clear: he doesn’t seem to care much about being world champion. There is something respectable about this, given the political games involved in dealing with sanctioning bodies. Garcia wasn’t worried about making weight against Haney in his first shot at a world title and followed up the biggest win of his career by saying he planned to fight across divisions.
