Getty Image
What looked like the best win of Ryan Garcia‘s incredible young boxing career has now turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Garcia wowed fans with an impressive TKO victory over Devin Haney in late April, only to turn around and test positive for Ostarine, a banned Performance Enhancing Drug.
Garcia’s B sample from the fight came back on Thursday and was also positive, leading the polarizing boxer to have a strange reaction to it all.
BREAKING: Ryan Garcia’s B sample results were returned Thursday a.m., 1 day after being opened. I have the lab reports & the B samples, as expected, matched A samples — both are positive for the banned PED Ostarine related to VADA tests the day before & after Haney fight. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) May 23, 2024
Garcia raced to Twitter following news of the positive B sample and posted the following since-deleted messages.
“Let’s go we positive. Positive vibes bruh. Yess so happy.”
“I F—— LOVE STERIODS.” (Edited for vulgarity)
“I don’t care I’ll never make money again with boxing. Your loss not mine. For setting me up. lol joke on yall”
“I will swallow all Steriods.”
“I had s** with steriods only once crazy bruh. Try it. Hahahhahahahah”
Garcia’s peculiar behavior mimicks that which he exhibited prior to the fighting, leading some fans to believe he wasn’t fit to step in the ring.
He recently sat down with DAZN’s Emily Austin to discuss all the controversy.
“I feel a little hurt and just damaged by the accusations that are put on me,” he said at the time. “Because I know for a fact that I’m not a cheater and I’ve never been a cheater.”
Ryan Garcia Puts Out Statement Addressing Failed B Sample From Haney Fight
Those comments echoed sentiments from Garcia’s management team that were released on Thursday afternoon.
“Ryan Garcia is committed to clean and fair competition and has never intentionally used any banned substance,” the statement read. “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. The results of Ryan’s hair sample came back negative. 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.
“Ryan has voluntarily submitted to tests throughout his career, 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.”
Garcia and Haney did not have an automatic rematch clause.
And because Garcia missed weight the WBC super lightweight title was not on the line. But Haney could still have the result overturned on his official record upon appeal.