Ryan Garcia is facing reputational ruin, coupled with his career stalling significantly due to a suspension following the revelation of his drug test failures.
The Golden Boy star is currently in Las Vegas for the Canelo vs Munguia fight and has requested a B sample be opened from his VADA Testing results. The insistence comes on the back of the banned steroid ostarine and another unnamed substance being found in his system before the Devin Haney fight, which he won via majority decision.
Garcia is livid with the current venom aimed at him by fans, media, and clean sports advocates. He’s vowed to fight the results of the tests and save his reputation. However, this will be a hard fight for him to win.
Trial by social media already has Garcia sentenced and executed after witnessing a superb performance they thought was by a clean fighter. His pre-fight mind games were praised, and his tactics during the contest saw him nullify an exceptional boxer in Haney.
How things have changed in two short weeks since an exceptional fight with Haney ended. Garcia will be suspended for up to two years, possibly longer, depending on his intentions and whether there is any evidence of knowledgeable wrongdoing. At best, Garcia could persuade the World Boxing Council that his misdemeanor was unintentional. Conor Benn and Alycia Baumgardner successfully lobbied, which was the case recently.
While Benn is still under a cloud, Baumgardner can seemingly fight whenever she pleases despite the knocks to both their reputations.
What doesn’t help Garcia is the cockiness and the reaction on social media. He’s already rubbing people up the wrong way by making jokes and threatening to sue anyone who believes the failures are intentional. Garcia does have the money and boxing power of Oscar De La Hoya behind him, though, which has helped fighters in the past.
However, this kind of reaction hasn’t been to a boxer testing positive, especially on socials. That’s simply down to Garcia’s temperament in the build-up to the Haney fight and the fact he hoodwinked everybody into believing he had a mental illness. After his win, he revealed he pre-recorded an admission that he would purposely try to make people think something was wrong with him. Despite it working on Haney and his team, that deception only adds more animosity towards Garcia for his positive test results.
Reputational ruin is on a fast track unless something significant comes out in the coming days to prove his innocence or, at the very least, an unintentional nature.
That’s the best Garcia can hope for, with the worst an unthinkable notion for a boxer on top of the world on April 21st.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay. Learn more, read all articles from the experienced boxing writer, and follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
