Ryan Garcia's legal team claims failed drug test was due to 'contamination'

Ryan Garcia’s team continues to fight to prove his innocence after he tested positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs in the wake of his epic win over Devin Haney. In a statement on Thursday, Garcia’s representatives insist he committed no wrongdoing following VADA testing of products.

After clinching his dominant upset win last month, Garcia faces a ban if found guilty of taking PEDs while the former undisputed lightweight champion Haney has requested the overturning of the result. But this statement and the evidence provided by his team and VADA could prove to be enough evidence to ensure Garcia - who has a 25-1 record - is able to continue his boxing career.

The statement sent by Garcia’s legal team read: “The test results from samples of two supplements declared by Ryan Garcia on VADA Doping Control Forms, signed on April 19th and 20th, have returned positive for Ostarine contamination. This confirms what we have consistently maintained: Ryan was a victim of supplement contamination and has never intentionally used any banned or performance-enhancing substances. Any claims to the contrary, questioning Ryan's integrity as a clean fighter, are unequivocally false and defamatory.

“Throughout his career, Ryan has voluntarily submitted to numerous tests, all of which have returned negative results, underscoring his commitment to fair and clean competition. Additionally, multiple negative tests leading up to his fight against Haney further affirm his clean record. The ultra-low levels of Ostarine detected in his samples, in the billionth of a gram range, along with his clean hair sample proves contamination rather than intentional ingestion. The recent test results reiterate this.

"A press conference will be held next week to provide more insight and answer questions. More details on the conference will be announced in the coming days."

It's claimed the supplements submitted by Garcia, a NutraBIO super carb raspberry lemonade and a BodyHealth Perfect Amino strawberry, both returned positive for Ostarine contamination. Ever since Garcia tested positive for a banned PED substance, the 25-year-old - who shared the original story on his social media feed - has sworn that he's never taken any form of steroids and protested his innocence.

Ostarine is a drug that was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2008 despite being listed as an anabolic agent in 2022. The failed test could ultimately lead to Garcia being stripped of his win, and also given a possible two or four-year ban ban from boxing.

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It would also remove Haney's first loss in boxing. Garcia remarkably missed weight ahead of their fight, making him ineligible to become the new holder of the WBC super lightweight belt - even with a crushing clean win.

Paul Greene, Matt Kaiser, Darin Chavez, and Guadalupe Valencia, who represent Garcia, had previously claimed that they conducted their own testing, and the results were negative. Team Garcia will hold a press conference next week to give fans, Haney, and all involved more insight into the situation.