Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has broken his silence following news of Ryan Garcia’s positive drugs test, potentially denying ‘King Ry’ of his a career-best win and at the very least adding another asterisk on his victory last weekend.
Garcia’s behaviour during the build-up raised eyebrows as he was photographed smoking marijuana, faked his own death and then weighed-in for the fight whilst drinking a beer – only to be three pounds overweight and lose the opportunity to challenge for Devin Haney’s world title.
Still, the bout went ahead and Garcia shocked the world as he dropped the undefeated champion for the first, second and third time of his career on his way to a majority-decision win that nobody had predicted, silencing his doubters and re-announcing himself as one of boxing’s superstars.
However, today it has been confirmed that Garcia tested positive for Ostarine on both the day of the weigh-in and the day of the fight, leaving fans questioning whether the banned substance was intentionally taken.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Hearn declared that the result of the contest should be altered and admitted that cases like this are ‘guilty until proven innocent’ in the eyes of the public.
“I woke up and I had a couple of missed calls from Devin, I messaged him and then obviously got all of the information. Shocked, saddened, disappointed. Gutted for Devin, to be honest with you, because he has boxed a guy there who was three-and-a-half pounds over [weight] and had performance enhancing drugs in his system.
“One thing that we know, that is facts – is that when Ryan Garcia boxed Devin Haney, he had performance enhancing drugs in his system. How did they get there? Now we have got to give the opportunity to Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy [Promotions] to go through the process and fight the case. Unfortunately, in this world and in these incidents, I have been there a million times, it is guilty until proven innocent.
“It’s not always fair but what has to be done now in my opinion will probably be a no-contest because, whatever is proven, they were in his system. When Devin was up against that plus the weight [it makes a huge difference]. He is very disappointed is Devin, he hasn’t taken the defeat well and this was like a final kick in the nuts.”
The shocking news will cause on obvious delay to Garcia’s plans of moving up to welterweight and challenging for Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis’ IBF world title, as the 25-year-old sensation awaits the verdict of the NYSAC.
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