The 25-year-old Garcia tested positive for ostarine in two separate tests before and after his fight with Devin Haney on April 20.
Despite missing weight by 3 lbs, Garcia won the fight on points after knocking Haney down three times, but was ineligible to win the world title because of his weight.
The positive test results from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) were revealed only after the fight. After the B-sample confirmed the initial results, Garcia’s legal team have now released a statement that protests his innocence and offers an explanation as to why they think he has failed the test.
“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.
“The results of Ryan’s hair sample came back negative. 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 tests 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.”
Garcia has a long road ahead if he is to clear his name, while Haney is aiming to get his loss overturned and have Garcia disqualified from their bout.
Boxing Social is now on WhatsApp! Join our channel by clicking here and getting all the latest boxing news direct to your phone.