Welterweight Ryan Garcia 25-1 (20) faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines after his B-sample taken for his fight against WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney 31-1 (15) last month tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
The mercurial 25-year-old Los Angelan blew off making weight for the fight, coming in more than three-pounds heavy to eventually defeat Haney by majority decision after dropping him three times during the bout.
The victory was soured when Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) testing of Garcia’s A-sample showed a positive result for Ostarine, a banned substance.
Boxing journalist Dan Rafael wrote on X: “Ryan Garcia’s B sample results were returned Thursday [23 May] a.m., one day after being opened.
“I have the lab reports & the B samples, as expected, matched A samples — both are positive for the banned PED [performance-enhancing drug] Ostarine related to VADA tests the day before & after Haney fight.”
Garcia has repeatedly denied taking performance enhancing drugs, blaming a widespread conspiracy to set him up to fail.
In a series of posts to social media, he wrote: “I FUCKING LOVE STERIODS (sic)… Let’s go we positive… Positive vibes bruh… Yess so happy… I don’t care… I’ll never make money again with boxing… Your loss not mine for setting me up… lol joke on y’all… I will swallow all Steriods (sic).”
Garcia’s legal team have taken a more measured approach. They have proposed a hair test to prove their client’s innocence.
“Ryan Garcia is, and has always been, committed to clean and fair competition. He vehemently denies any intentional use of a banned substance,” the Garcia legal team 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, meaning Ryan has never intentionally taken Ostarine in the last six months.
“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, including just 17 days before his positive test.
“All 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. We are in the process of testing the supplements to determine the exact source.”
The dirty drug test caps off a bad week for Garcia that also saw him sued for defamation by Logan Paul’s energy drink comapny Prime.
“Today we begin to hold those accountable who’ve damaged our brand for attention while we correct the narrative,” Paul posted to Instagram on Thursday alongside an image of the lawsuit filed in a Texas court.
“We’re here to stay and will continue to change the world of hydration with bold flavors and creative innovation.”
Garcia, who boasts over one million followers on X alone, had previously posted that Prime will “kill your guys’s (sic) brains”, “mess up your guys’s (sic) liver” and “hurt you big time”.
But his most outlandish claim tied the energy drink to his recent VADA problems.
“I drank Prime and I tested positive for ostarine.”
