Ryan Garcia tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug the day before his victorious bout against Devin Haney last month, as well as the day of the fight.
A letter was sent to both camps informing them of the positive test for the substance Ostarine, as reported by ESPN's Mike Coppinger. Garcia has 10 days to request that the secondary, or B-sample, get tested. If he fails to do so or the B-sample comes back positive, his majority decision win over Haney will be overturned.
According to ESPN, Ostarine is used to help athletes "build muscle mass and enhance their rate of fat loss and also to increase staining and recovery ability."
Garcia, 25, delivered a profanity-laden denial on Spaces, calling the test "fake news" and questioning why he was not informed about the findings prior to the match.
"I never fucking took a steroid in my fucking life. ... If they had this information, they should have released this before the fight went down," he said. "Because why would you let a cheater step into the ring? Right? All of a sudden I win and then you release it? Seems kind of fishy to me. ... They're cheating by trying to take my victory. Fuck them, fuck these motherfuckers, tell them to suck my dick. I beat Devin Haney fair and square, he can suck my dick. All you motherfuckers that say I cheated, you guys could all suck my dick—I didn't fucking cheat a day in my life. Never have, never fucking will."
Garcia went on to take part in a practice once known as "tweeting through it." The posts ranged from joking about having a steroid addiction to irrationally speculating whether his association with Donald Trump played a part in a positive drug test. He also said he refuses to give Haney, also 25, a rematch.
"I beat him easy, fair and square. I'd be damned if I rematch him," he wrote.
And he just kept going, retweeting Gervonta Davis' defense along the way.
"They doing anything to take away the win from Ryan..if that's the case BANNED EDDIE HEARN SILVER POON ASS!" Davis wrote in a since-deleted post.
Garcia also felt the need to write, "If I took the steroids then I'm forsure GAY."
If that weren't enough, he released a video denying the positive test result as "bull-fucking-shit claim" and "retarded":
"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 a statement to ESPN.
"Ryan owes the fans an apology, and by his recent tweet he still thinks this is a joke," the statement continued. "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."
On his Instagram Stories on Wednesday night, Haney posted a video where his smiling face is superimposed over WWE legend The Undertaker rising out of his coffin. Garcia's weeping face is slapped onto Taker's presumably terrified opponent.
Garcia joked he should not have taken Ashwagandha root—an over-the-counter supplement—but the message could suggest what may have happened. Even though the boxer did not knowingly take steroids, he may have taken a seemingly safe pill that contained a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.
Take Fernando Tatis Jr., for example. The San Diego Padres star was suspended for 80 games in 2022 after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Clostebol. He said afterward that the substance was contained in a medication he took to treat ringworm.
"It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol," Tatis Jr. said. "I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so."
