Ryan Garcia’s legal team is looking for a reduced suspension of four months for the star after it was reportedly discovered that two of the supplements he used before his April 20th victory over Devin Haney on the doping control form were found to be contaminated with Ostarine.
Garcia states that he didn’t intentionally take Ostarine. The substance was in his nutritional supplements, demonstrating that he should be cleared. Ryan’s legal team wants to avoid a hearing with the New York State Athletic Commission.
They want to agree on the suspension, and they feel it should be lighter, given Garcia’s circumstances of taking a contaminated supplement.
Questions Raised Over Supplement Testing
Sports nutritionist Victor Conte, who works with Haney, told ESPN that he suspects tampering May have occurred with the supplements sent for testing because their unsealed containers prevented a chain of custody.
However, @VictorConte argues that since the supplement bottles weren’t sealed, there’s no chain of custody.
“Why are they testing powders from unsealed supplement containers? In my opinion, it seems likely that tampering may be involved. Testing of product samples from unsealed…
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 31, 2024
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Fighters are responsible for what they put into their bodies. If the New York Commission goes by that view, they could hand Garcia a stiff suspension regardless of his unintentional ingesting of the Ostarine product. It would be bad for boxing to have a star like Ryan inactive.
Potential Consequences for Garcia and Boxing
It would hurt Ryan’s career if the New York Commission gave him a year or more suspension for his positive PED tests. It’s unclear whether he would sit inactive or choose to find a way to keep fighting. With Ryan’s popularity, it’s hard to imagine him not fighting.
If Ryan is given a suspension, it’ll be interesting to see if Haney and his team continue to push to have his loss erased. They view that as important, but it might not be worth much if it is removed.
Fans who saw the fight already know what happened. Haney having the defeat removed from his record is meaningless because fans will continue to view him as having lost.
The best way for Haney to mentally erase the defeat is to avenge the loss by beating Ryan in a rematch. However, Haney has already said in an interview that he doesn’t want to fight Ryan again, which is self-defeating.
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