THE ANGELS.- The American boxer Ryan Garcia failed a doping test just before his unexpected and controversial victory in April over then-undefeated Devin HaneyWBC super lightweight champion, ESPN reported this Wednesday.
According to the sports information network, the banned substance ostarine was detected in the samples taken from García both the day before and the day of the fight, held on April 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (New York).
The results of the tests, which would have been known after the fight, appear in a letter from the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), supervisor of these tests in boxing and mixed martial arts events, which was obtained by ESPN.
The substance ostarine prevents muscle loss and improves lean body mass, and is used in the treatment of women with breast cancer.
García, of Mexican parents, reacted on his X account by stating that the report about his positive test was “fake news.”
“Everyone knows I don't cheat,” he said. “Why didn't they come out with this before the fight if they found it before? Why would they let me get in the ring like a cheater and then come out with a win and post this.”
“They are people who try to attack me for any reason… I have never taken a steroid in my life, I don't even know where to get them. I barely take supplements,” he said.
More statements from García:
In another post, the boxer showed a bottle of an herbal supplement, ironically suggesting that it could be responsible for the test result.
“My fault, I shouldn't have taken this,” he wrote.
García surprised the boxing world by knocking down the American Devin Haney, WBC (World Boxing Council) super lightweight champion, three times in New York in a fight preceded by great controversy.
Haney's title, who lost by majority decision, was not at stake because García had exceeded the maximum weight for the category, established at 140 pounds (63.5 kg).
The American greatly exceeded the limit by 3.2 pounds (1.4 kilos) in a volcanic weigh-in ceremony in which he got on the scale drinking from a beer bottle.
