Ryan Garcia Displaying No Urgency To Prove His Innocence

Ryan Garcia Has Yet To Sign Up for Any Drug Testing Program

Since being flagged for the banned substance Ostarine, junior welterweight fighter “King Ry” Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) has done absolutely nothing to establish that he is a clean fighter. Instead, he has continued to be consistently rude, racist, publicly intoxicated, shirk responsibility and fail to follow through on attending rehab. Along with not enrolling in any rehab program, Garcia has also failed to register for any type of drug testing program.

This became a significant talking point after Bill Haney, Devin “The Dream” Haney’s (31-0, 15 KO’s) father and chief second, challenged Garcia to enlist in the VADA open testing program. Bill issued the stipulation after seeing King Ry post that he was training for a rematch. In their previous fight, when Garcia was flagged for PED’s, his initial ruling of a unanimous decision win was later reclassified a no-contest due to the drug violation.

Naturally, having been the violated party, Team Haney is adamant about making sure everyone is on an even playing field. While Garcia has not flat out said no to gettingm drug testing, he has raised an issue with using VADA. VADA was the active agency in play when King Ry was caught with the illegal substance coursing through his veins.

FOOL ME ONCE…

King Ry has loudly screamed that VADA is associated with Victor Conte, the founder of SNAC, who he and Devin Haney have worked with. Garcia’s beef revolves around Conte’s 2005 conviction for distributing steroids and money laundering. The two-time title challenger insists that Haney and Conte are in cahoots and Conte is using his political influence at VADA to essentially frame him.

If this is the his sincere belief, then he rightly would not want to submit to VADA. But why has Garcia submitted to no one? Why has he not started testing, some six months later? If one were earnestly looking to clear their name, it would seem only prudent to do the bare minimum. Signing up for testing in this case seems to qualify as the bare minimum.

Certainly Garcia had to foresee any rematch with Haney would come with a built-in testing protocol. And is that beyond reason? Manny Pacquiao had to famously make unsavory concessions regarding drug testing to get the fight with Floyd Mayweather. Errol Spence had to make financial concessions to secure his duel with Terence Crawford. And even Haney signed a horrifically lopsided contract not in his favor to face George Kambosos for undisputed.

WHAT’S THE FINAL VERDICT?

Love or hate either of the principle characters, the rematch between Haney and Garcia would be one of the bigger showdowns in the sport. For that reason alone, a do-over sounds about right. Of course, it provides Garcia an opportunity to show he can win while clean. So, for the sake of defending his innocence, why not sign up with someone?

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