Lucas Jones
Ryan Garcia shocked the boxing world on April 20 when he dropped Devin Haney three times en route to a majority decision victory. There was already an asterisk next to the win after Garcia seriously missed weight before the fight, but things continued to get worse for him after a second positive drug test.
On Thursday, laboratory results from Garcia’s B sample returned an adverse result for the banned substance ostarine, according to multiple reports. This happened after Garcia allegedly failed a VADA drug test administered before the fight. VADA tested Garcia the day before and the day after the fight with Haney.
Garcia reacted to the news by writing, “I F—ING LOVE STEROID” in a since-deleted social media post. He followed up with a toned-down post saying, “No baby.”
In a statement to CBS Sports on Thursday, Garcia’s legal team insisted he never intentionally used a banned substance.
“Ryan Garcia is committed to clean and fair competition and has never knowingly used any prohibited substance,” Garcia’s legal team wrote. “Shortly after being notified of his positive test, Ryan voluntarily had his hair collected and sent to Dr. Pascal Kintz, the leading expert in toxicology and hair sample analysis. Ryan’s hair sample results were negative. This is consistent with contamination and demonstrably proves that Ryan did not ingest Ostarine over a period of time – the only way he would have any advantage in the ring.
“Ryan has voluntarily submitted to testing throughout his career, which has always shown negative results. He also tested negative multiple times before the Haney fight. All of these factors, combined with his ultra-low levels in samples collected 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. the fight will be contaminated and we are in the process of testing the supplements to determine the exact source.”
Veteran boxing reporter Dan Rafael was the report Garcia’s test failed May 1 for ostarine. Rafael noted that Garcia tested positive on April 19th – the day before the fight – and on April 20th during his post-fight evaluation. ESPN then reported who obtained a letter from VADA confirming the situation.
After a post on social media with three crying and “laughing” emojis, Garcia was briefly live on X.
“You can see fake news,” Garcia said earlier this month. “Fake news. Don’t believe these idiots. I’ve never taken a steroid in my life. I don’t even know how this shit, it’s the weirdest shit ever.
“Supposedly they already had it, but they release it after I win? It doesn’t make sense. I tested it on the day of the fight, nothing. … Someone paying someone.”
Garcia was reportedly previously cleared of a separate potentially positive drug test for the metabolite 19-norandrosterone, which derives from the banned substance nandrolone. The two positive ostarine tests will likely impact his career.
Possible punishments for failed tests may include suspension, fines or nullification of the fight result for a no contest. Haney’s team had previously filed a letter with the New York State Athletic Commission requesting that Garcia be disqualified, changing the outcome of his fight to a disqualification win for Haney, according to boxing scene. Most likely, the fight will be considered a no contest.
Garcia spent the lead-up to the fight engaging in bizarre behavior that included ranting on social media about various conspiracy theories, claiming to have proof of aliens, and claiming to drink alcohol regularly, which he admitted to after the fight.
After the victory, Garcia claimed that this was all part of an elaborate plan to “troll” boxing fans, the media and Haney and his team. If that was the case, the plan seemed to work perfectly as Garcia scored the biggest win of his career. With the test samples coming back positive, however, the result of the fight could be overturned to a no contest.
Of course, Garcia’s weight loss of over 3 pounds meant Garcia was ineligible to win the WBC junior welterweight championship from Haney. The fight was originally planned as Garcia’s first shot at a world championship, as well as an opportunity to prove he could continue with the sport’s elite after being knocked down twice and stopped by Gervonta “Tank” Davis in 2023.
