LAS VEGAS – Ryan Garcia’s positive test results for the banned performance-enhancing substance ostarine reveals systemic weaknesses in a sport centered on the violence of one person punching another in the head.
“It should bother a lot of people. … If I tell you that boxing’s probably the dirtiest of all professional sports, I wouldn’t be exaggerating, I wouldn’t be lying,” former welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi said on Thursday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters.”
“We have the weakest drug testing,” Malignaggi said. “There’s no [mandatory] testing in the offseason, which means no testing in between training camps. Within the training camps, only certain fights do they have this random testing implemented – not even all the fights.”
Joined by former welterweight titleholder Shawn Porter and former 140-pound titlist Chris Algieri on Thursday’s show, Malignaggi said he didn’t want to “tap dance” around the subject of Garcia’s positive test for ostarine and the “screened positive” for 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid nandrolone collected by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
The urine samples were collected from Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) on April 19 and April 20 – the day he scored three knockdowns to produce an upset majority decision victory over then-unbeaten WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Garcia has professed his innocence multiple times on X and Instagram, floating a theory that an over-the-counter supplement he ingested was possibly tainted.
“I’m going to say it outright: I think Ryan Garcia cheated, bro,” Malignaggi said. “I think you took the steroids and you knew.
“At its highest level, we just gave boxing its millionth black eye here.”
Although he missed weight for the Haney bout by a staggering 3.2 pounds – depriving him of winning his first world title – Garcia, at 25, was poised with the victory to pursue belts in the welterweight or junior middleweight divisions as he posted a second strong pay-per-view sales performance within a year’s time.
His victory over Haney had flipped the narrative of his loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis in April 2023, when Garcia was dropped by a body shot and stayed on one knee as the referee counted him out.
“With a bad loss [to Haney], Ryan would’ve been relegated to YouTube fights, essentially,” Algieri said. “Now, he gets the win … the upset … and becomes the face of the sport, [with] a legit possibility to become the overall face of boxing in the coming months or years.
“And then this comes out. … Boxing never misses an opportunity to give itself black eyes. This is two black eyes, a busted nose and a fractured jaw. It’s just a bad look for the sport because this kid was getting so much attention – crossover attention.
“And now, this news. He doesn’t stay out of the news, good or bad. This one’s really bad.”
Haney appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Thursday to say, “I’ve never been overmatched like that, and I’ve been in there with the best fighters in the world. … I felt like something was up. It definitely had me questioning a lot of things – my preparation, my team. That’s what a loss will do to you.
“I want to be on an even playing field. Plus, boxing’s a brutal sport. I could’ve lost my life in that ring. That’s just reality. When a guy is taking performance-enhancing drugs, it’s dangerous for the guys in the ring.”
Haney said he’s “not too interested in” a rematch.
“We’ve seen the guy cheat, we’ve seen his character, the type of person he is,” Haney said. “As of now, I wouldn’t entertain [a rematch]. This guy showed … he’ll do anything to win, including cheat. He put my life in jeopardy. It’s deeper than boxing with me.
“I want to take this somewhere else now.”
Some have wondered who would be willing to fight Garcia if the sport’s existing drug-testing policies are not enhanced.
Porter said he would advise Garcia, “Don’t play yourself. … If you did something on purpose, admit that and try to come back from this, because this is a big, big mark on you.”
The New York State Athletic Commission announced Thursday that it will review the VADA results when they are finalized and render a decision, which could include declaring Garcia’s win (and Haney’s loss) a no-contest, while suspending and fining Garcia.
“You can come back as a clean fighter again,” Porter said. “[But] you are a different fighter once you mess with the inside.”
Algieri said the attention will ultimately turn to when Garcia can fight again.
“This is a story as old as time in boxing,” Algieri said. “I didn’t think [Garcia would] fight again this year, anyway.”
Porter hopes it starts with someone helping Garcia to “reel it in,” pointing to promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
“The kid’s got a whole lot of good in him,” Porter said of Garcia.
“When you’re Oscar De La Hoya, this is your sport, what you love, what you’ve done. How do you want to extend it to those coming up? You’ve got to be a better example and take some of the onus, too, and say, ‘I’ve got to be leading these kids better.’
“This is not supposed to happen. It did. And now we’ve all got to talk about it.”
