Eddie Hearn is confident Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia will be declared a no-contest.
‘King Ry’ tested positive for the banned PED Ostarine in two drug tests taken around his upset win over Haney less than two weeks ago.
Garcia floored Haney three times en route to a majority decision victory at the Barclays Centre in New York on April 20.
But that result has now been brought into disrepute after the 25-year-old returned adverse findings for Ostarine in two VADA drug tests carried out the day before and on the day of the Haney fight.
He also screened positive for a metabolite of nandrolone (19-norandrosterone) in one of his tests, but that result has not been confirmed yet while it undergoes further lab analysis.
Hearn, who has a long-standing relationship with Haney and has frequently promoted him since 2019, believes it is ‘very likely’ that the result will be wiped from both of the fighter’s records once the issue is resolved.
This will hand Haney his undefeated record back having lost for the first time in paid ranks against Garcia.
“Devin Haney’s side are distraught, angry and of course wants this bout to be a no-contest which is very likely I would say,” Hearn told iFL TV.
“Regardless of the way that got in the system. Once the fight takes place, and you’ve been proven to have that in your system, the fight hasn’t happened on fair stakes.
“And he was three and a half pounds over so Devin’s probably thinking to himself, ‘F*** me’.
“‘He came in three and a half pounds over, he’s got performance-enhancing drugs in the system. And I’ve got beat, do me a favour.’
“But you have to give Ryan his opportunity. As I said, I’ve been on the other side (Conor Benn).
“I don’t know Ryan Garcia, I have no idea if he’s cheated or not. But as I said, in this situation, I’ve said it before, guilty until proven innocent, and he’s gonna have to go through his hearings.
“I don’t know if he’s going to have the resilience to go through this process because I’ve seen it break people.
“But he is going to have to go through a nightmare of a process now to clear his name.”
Ostranine is a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) used to help build muscle mass, burn fat and increase stamina.
Meanwhile, nandrolone is a synthetic (lab-made) version of the hormone testosterone.
Garcia now has ten days to request that his B-sample be tested to see if the results returned in the A-sample were due to contamination.
‘King Ry’ has denied that he intentionally cheated and took to social media on Wednesday night to respond to the results once they were reported.
“I came on here to address this bull-f******-s*** claim that I cheated,” he said in a video.
“Everybody knows that I don’t cheat. What can I say?
“Why didn’t they come out with this before the fight if they found it before?
“Why would they let me step into the ring as a cheater, come out with the victory, and then they post this?”
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News Summary:
- Eddie Hearn believes it’s ‘very likely’ Devin Haney will have undefeated record restored after Ryan Garcia’s failed drug tests
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