Anti-doping tests on Ryan Garcia given to him the day before and the day of his April 20 fight against Devin Haney in Brooklyn came back positive for the banned substance Ostarine. Garcia immediately took to social media to deny using steroids or any performance enhancing drugs, and Golden Boy Promotions released a statement backing him.
Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite first reported on the positive test.
Garcia's samples were analyzed using carbon isotope mass spectrometry testing (IRMS), which is highly reliable and can detect the presence of a substance down to the picogram level.
Ostarine is an unlikely source to pick to gain a performance advantage, because it needs to be taken in extremely large amounts to be effective. It is not approved for any medical use by the Food & Drug Administration, but it has been used in the past in an attempt to treat various forms of cancer.
In a statement, Golden Boy fully supported Garcia, who knocked Haney down three times at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 20 and won by majority decision in a significant upset.
Its statement read, "“Ryan has put out multiple statements denying knowingly using any banned substances — and we believe him. We are working with his team to determine how this finding came to be and will address this further once we conclude that process.”
Garcia went live on social media and then made numerous posts denying any use when the news broke.
Why in the world would I volunteer for a drug test if I planned on taking drugs?
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) May 2, 2024
Make it make sense???
The levels of Garcia's positive tests are not known and will be a key in determining whether the usage could be attributed to a contaminated supplement or whether is was used in an attempt to cheat. The UFC, for instance, gives its athletes who work out at its Performance Institutes supplements that are certified for sport and are guaranteed not to be contaminated.
If Garcia's results are shown to be in the picogram level, it would tend to suggest contamination over any other method.
Haney released a statement to ESPN in which he didn't hesitate to accuse Garcia of intentional use.
"We learned about this situation not too long ago and it's unfortunate Ryan cheated and disrespected both the fans and the sport of boxing by fighting dirty and breaking positive not once, but twice," Haney said in his statement to ESPN. "I've always been an advocate for clean fighting and this is an example of such. Ryan owes the fans an apology, and by his recent tweet he still thinks this is a joke. We put our lives on the line to entertain people for a living. You don't play boxing. This puts the fight in a completely different light. Despite the disadvantage, I still fought on my shield and got back up! People die in this sport. This isn't a joking matter."