Ryan Garcia’s legal team has confirmed to World Boxing News that the boxer’s drug test failures were due to supplement contamination featuring the banned substance ostarine.
In a statement sent to WBN on Thursday, the Golden Boy star maintained his innocence of wrongdoing with a test report. According to Garcia’s team, the had two products tested that were previously flagged. The results concluded that Garcia had not willingly ingested any illegal performance enhancing drugs – they claim.
“The test results from samples of two supplements declared by Ryan Garcia on VADA Doping Control Forms, signed on April 19th and 20th, have returned positive for Ostarine contamination,” read the official information sent to WBN from Garcia’s legal team.
“This confirms what we have consistently maintained: Ryan was a victim of supplement contamination and has never intentionally used any banned or performance-enhancing substances. Any claims to the contrary, questioning Ryan’s integrity as a clean fighter, are unequivocally false and defamatory.
“Throughout his career, Ryan has voluntarily submitted to numerous tests, all of which have returned negative results, underscoring his commitment to fair and clean competition. Additionally, multiple negative tests leading up to his fight against Haney further affirm his clean record.
“The ultra-low levels of Ostarine detected in his samples, in the billionth of a gram range, along with his clean hair sample, proves contamination rather than intentional ingestion. The recent test results reiterate this.
“A press conference will be held next week to provide more insight and answer questions. More details on the conference will be announced in the coming days.”
Images in the report show unsealed containers, a potential sticking point over the testing being admissible. Whether this latest evidence, added to a previous hair test taken on May 17, will save Garcia from a suspension remains to be seen. Currently, only Garcia’s team is providing any information regarding testing procedures.
Garcia is facing a possible two or four-year ban if found guilty, with opponent Devin Haney – who lost on April 20 – requesting the overturning of the result. This latest information puts a considerable spanner in the works and could be sufficient evidence to allow Garcia to continue his boxing career – provided an official source ratifies the testing procedure in the coming days.
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.
