A letter by Devin Haney’s legal team asks the New York State Athletic Commission for Ryan Garcia to be ‘disqualified and severely punished.’
Patrick C. English sent the hand-signed document on May 31 as Haney seeks to have the result of his April 20 loss overturned following positive drug tests. VADA flagged Garcia for the banned substance ostarine in samples taken on April 19 and April 20, either side of his decision triumph.
Haney, who suffered his first defeat during the bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, is fighting to save his unblemished record.
In the letter, of which World Boxing News obtained a full copy, English requested the attention of Matthew Delaglio, Acting Director of the New York State Athletic Commission, plus Dr. Nitin Sethi, Chief Medical Officer, and Samantha McEachin, Counsel for the NYSAC.
Part of the document points to two statements released by Garcia, in which he claims innocence due to the testing of hair follicles and supplements.
English states: “Over the past few days, there has been a flurry of what we consider to be orchestrated releases from Mr. Garcia and his legal team. It is completely obvious that they are seeking to minimize his culpability in a misleading and troubling way.”
He concluded: “For the reasons set forth in my letter of May 11, as supplemented herein, Mr. Garcia should be disqualified and appropriate, but severe punishment should be levied upon Mr. Garcia. Respectfully submitted on behalf of Devin Haney.”
Garcia shared a World Boxing News story on the supplement tests, which stated that contamination was the reason for ostarine in his system. However, that would not explain the lack of ostarine in the hair samples, which WBN exclusively revealed Garcia’s team took on May 17, four weeks after the fight. If contamination had been the case, Garcia’s hair would still have had traces of ostarine and not zero particles, as claimed.
There’s also the problem with the supplements being open when tested, ultimately making them inadmissible. Garcia’s team should have sent the same batch number for testing in sealed, untouched bottles.
All this doubt puts question marks over the whole situation, which Haney’s team wants to make the NYSAC doubly aware of for the WBC super lightweight champion’s sake. Haney believes he should never have suffered a reverse against Garcia and seemingly won’t stop until a severe punishment gets handed down.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
