The latest saga in the sport of boxing continues.
On Saturday, April 20, 2024, Ryan Garcia shocked the world when he knocked WBC Super Lightweight Champion Devin Haney down three times as he secured the most significant win of his professional boxing career. Eleven days later, a letter from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) indicated Garcia tested positive for a banned substance called ostarine on the day before and the day of his latest fight. Three weeks later, Garcia’s B-sample also tested positive for ostarine, according to a Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory report.
Ostaine is described as a “Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM)” and is “not approved for human use or consumption in the U.S., or in any other country.” Furthermore, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) argues there “are in fact products that contain ostarine, but only illegal ones.”
“In recent years, WADA has reported an increasing number of positive tests involving SARMs, and athletes who use these substances most likely obtain them through black market channels,” USADA states.
“Research has shown that SARMs like ostarine have fewer androgenic properties, meaning they have less influence on the development and balance of male hormones, including testosterone. While they are not yet approved for human use, SARMs are of interest to the medical community because they might be effective at treating different health conditions without resulting in the negative side effects of steroids. Ostarine is currently being investigated as a way to treat a variety of muscle wasting diseases, such as osteoporosis, cancer, and hypogonadism.”
Despite the two positive samples, Garcia maintains his innocence. During a recent interview with ESPN, he said, “I don’t know where [the adverse finding] came from.”
“Honestly, bro, I don’t. I was taking ashwagandha, D-3, Omega-3, just normal s—. I don’t know what the f— [ostarine] is. … I have seriously no idea. I would tell everybody the truth,” he said.
“My whole thing is I’d rather tell the truth than try to fabricate it with a lie. Because lies don’t stand. So if I really did take it, I would be like, honestly, I was going through a weird situation. I wasn’t really that confident. I chose to take it. I’m sorry. And that’s it. But I didn’t and I hate cheating.”
Meanwhile, Garcia’s latest opponent, Devin Haney, and his coach, Bill Haney, have been calling for the result of the fight to be changed and for Garcia to be suspended.
“There’s nothing that you can do with this guy, but get him out of the sport,” Bill Haney said.
“It’s a terrible thing for sports in general. It’s a terrible thing for boxing.”
