Ryan Garcia’s B-sample also positive, legal team releases statement
The New York State Athletic Commission has yet to determine his punishment
Ryan Garcia’s claims of innocence are looking more hollow than ever, as Dan Rafael reports that his B-sample for last month’s win over Devin Haney also came back positive for the banned SARM ostarine.
Garcia (25-1, 20 KO) responded with the grace and eloquence we’ve come to expect.
Per Rafael, the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) has yet to schedule a hearing to determine his punishment. Despite Haney’s (31-1, 15 KO) plea for a disqualification, we can expect that victory to be overturned to a no contest and Garcia to be hit with a lengthy suspension unless he can somehow prove accidental ingestion via tainted supplement.
I’m not equipped to speculate on just how lengthy it will be, but for reference, NYSAC gave Edgar Berlanga six months for biting.
Everything that can be said about this debacle has been said. Garcia’s erratic actions and outright refusal to take responsibility for their consequences make it incredibly difficult to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Editor’s Addition: Ryan Garcia’s legal team have released the following statement:
“Ryan Garcia is committed to clean and fair competition and has never intentionally used any banned substance. 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. 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 test 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.”