Ryan Garcia‘s current predicament is like a lamb waiting for his slaughter. And his long-time rival Devin Haney is deriving the ultimate satisfaction from Garcia’s downfall. The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) delivered the punishing blow to Garcia as he got popped for the banned substance Ostarine- one-year suspension, fight purse relinquishment, and his win over ‘The Dream’ declared a ‘no contest’. But, Haney isn’t just happy with the current set of penalizations plaguing the 25-year-old boxer. Lately, Haney has sued Garcia for damaging his marketability regarding his upcoming fights. After all, three knockdowns in a single fight do look bad on his CV. So much so, that Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn‘s Matchroom Boxing decided to not participate in the purse bids for his next fight against Sandor Martin.

Nonetheless, in an interview with iFL TV,  Hearn did bat for Haney by implying the compensation to ‘The Dream’ still wasn’t enough. Reportedly, Garcia’s relinquished fight purse will go to his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions. However, the Matchroom Boxing head thought that the ruling was unfair.

The punishment doesn’t fit the crime?

Hearn thinks that Haney’s boxing match against a juiced-up Ryan Garcia should have far-reaching consequences for the latter. After all, ‘The Dream’ was going up against a Garcia who was 3.2 pounds above the required weight limit. To make matters worse, Garcia was on Ostarine which has been on WADA’s banned list since 2008, and listed as an “anabolic agent”. Hence, Hearn wanted the entire fight purse to go to the victim of the “beating” that happened on April 20th in front of a packed crowd in Barclays Centre, New York.

“He’s got to pay what 1.2 million to Golden Boy. I’m not sure why Golden Boy should get the money that should be going to Devin Haney, he’s the guy who had to go 12 rounds with a guy with performance-enhancing drugs in his system and took a beating at times and could have been much worse physically, you know so yeah that was a weird one,” Hearn said.

Furthermore, Hearn joked about a global rule change considering that he had a lot of fighters test positive for PEDs on the shows promoted by him but he never saw a single penny of a caught boxer’s fight purse. A painful admission indeed! “I mean I’ve had about 20 Fighters test positive on my shows, I’ve never had a…. can we change this rule globally,” the promoter said.

One of the notable PED cases for Eddie Hearn’s stable of fighters was that of Conor Benn.  He was suspended after twice testing positive for a banned substance Clomiphene in 2022 ahead of his match against Chris Eubank Jr.. Subsequently, he was cleared by the National Anti-Doping Panel in July 2023 and was free to fight. However, Benn’s provisional ban was reimposed again in March this year after BBBofC appealed against the anti-doping panel’s decision.

But, what did Hearn have to say about Garcia’s twelve-month suspension?

‘The Flash’ remains in a tangle

In the same interview, Eddie Hearn opined about the length of Garcia’s suspension. “I don’t know anything about the situation I’m presuming they just went in there with a hands up and said look sorry we tested positive can we do a deal and actually sometimes if you’re not adamant that you want to prove your innocence the band can be more favorable.”

It must be pointed out that the verdict on Garcia’s PED abuse was borne out of a settlement between Garcia’s legal team and NYSAC. Does a legal settlement prove admission of guilt? Well, all answers to the question will be speculative at this point. Meanwhile, Garcia is vehemently protesting his innocence on social media, suggesting that the banned substance might have gotten into his system through “supplement contamination”.

“I never took drugs this is horrible,” one of Garcia’s posts on X read. But the judgment has been delivered and Garcia has to spend at least a year on the sidelines. Do you think Garcia knowingly consumed PEDs? Or was it accidental, as he claims? Let us know in the comment section below.