Boxer Ryan Garcia submitted drug test samples for his recent fight against Devin Haney, as is customary. According to sportswriter Dan Rafael, the submitted samples returned two positive test results for performance-enhancing drugs.
In a tweet, Rafael said that he had obtained copies of the lab reports of both tests. The results were returned by the lab a day after being opened. The samples—one submitted before the fight and one submitted after—matched one another, and the results of each test matched as well. Both samples tested positive for Ostarine, a steroid-like performance enhancing drug.
Garcia took to social media to sarcastically lampoon the results with a rant glorifying steroids over boxing, saying that he’d rather swallow pills than be allowed in the ring.
His posts were quickly deleted. After they disappeared, Garcia’s lawyers sent a statement to Fox News Digital. In the statement they say that Garcia submitted hair for testing, and the hair test revealed that he had never taken Ostarine “over a period of time.” They said that Garcia is committed to fair and clean competition, and has never used any banned substance intentionally. After receiving notification of the positive test, Garcia submitted to the hair test, which was conducted by the nation’s foremost hair sample toxicology expert, one Dr. Pascal Kintz.
The fact that the hair test returned negative results is consistent with Garcia’s contention that the initial laboratory contaminated his tests and returned tainted results. The statement points out that the only way that Ostarine could confer a performance advantage is if it is ingested over a long period of time in conjunction with physical training, which would increase the user’s muscle mass. The lawyers point to Garcia’s extensive history of regular drug testing, which has never before revealed any abnormalities. They posit that, if laboratory contamination did not occur, than one of the supplements that Garcia was taking produced similar metabolites to the banned substances. They hope to soon determine the exact source and clear their client’s name.
